SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE PROCESS OF BEREAVEMENT AFTER SUICIDE AND AFTER TRAFFIC FATALITIES IN SLOVENIA

The authors present the results of a study in which the bereaved spous es of deceased after suicide (30) and after traffic fatalities (23) we re compared. Participants from each group were visited twice-two month s after and fourteen months after the loss. The structured interview a nd three other instruments (Beck Depression Inventory, Eysenck Persona lity Questionnaire, and Slovene Bereavement Scale) were applied by exp erienced and especially trained interviewers. The results show more si milarities than differences between the groups. We found that the mode of death in our sample does not influence the level of depression. EP Q scores showed no significant differences on either dimension. There are some subtle differences on some questions on the SBS, which sugges t that suicide survivors have more problems shortly after the death th an do the bereaved after traffic accidents. Our data showed that the p rocess of bereavement is influenced not only by the mode of death and the time that has passed between the loss and the interview, but also by the quality of spousal relationship-whether it was a satisfactory o r an ambivalent one.