Writing projects: Lessening undergraduates' unique suicidal bereavement

To assess if writing projects lessen undergraduates' grief following a love d one's suicide, 40 students whose loved one died by suicide in the past 2 years wrote on four occasions over 2 weeks about profound topics (e.g., eve nts and emotions surrounding the death) or trivial topics (e.g., descriptio n of the previous meal). All participants completed pre- and posttest measu res of grief and self-reported health visits, and 75% completed the same me asures at 6-week mailed follow-up. As expected, individuals in the profound condition reported less grief associated with suicide at follow-up than th ose in the trivial condition. However, the trivial and profound groups were not significantly different in general grief or health visits. Writing abo ut grief associated with the suicide of a loved one appeared to reduce suic idal grief associated with this event. However, this benefit did not extend to general grief or physical health.