The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Suzanne Rogerson.
Suzanne provides a short summary of her life and is then interviewed by Jerome.
Suzanne tells us about the suicide of her father and how for years she was unable to discuss this, before discovering she was probably suffering from complicated grief.
Single case studies are just that. One person’s story. However they offer us insights into suffering that cannot be glimpsed from large research studies.
The stigma attached to suicide means that people often avoid talking about it. The surviving relative is thus left to carry this enormous burden on their own.
Suzanne draws attention to the documentary made by Professor Green, about his attempts to understand what made his own father take his life. Programmes like this can help demystify the issues surrounding suicide.
People sometimes dismissively talk about psychology students choosing the subject as they want to understand themselves and their own pathology. For Suzanne this was a liberating process.
