Mind shadows - A suicide in the family

Research an youth suicide is reviewed along with a brief recounting of fami ly systems theory and the concepts underlying life study research. Together these three orientations serve as a foundation for an account of a suicide of a teenage girl. The story of the young woman reveals the role of narrat ive thought in autoethnography as well as the nature of storytelling and th e witnessing of personal accounts by the researcher The actual account desc ribes the life of a young woman growing up in a volatile home where there i s constant fighting and tension. Her reaction to the anger surrounding her and the disapproval she feels culminates in an act of self-destruction. The account concludes with a discussion of the role of family systems, shame, and destructive relationships in the development of the self.