Online Memorialization and Grief After Suicide: An Analysis of Suicide Memorials on the Internet

Although several studies have looked at the phenomenon of online memorialization, online involvement of those bereaved by suicide (suicide survivors) remains an under-studied area. The current study analyzed 250 memorials dedicated to those who died by suicide on two memorialization Web sites: Faces of Suicide and Gone too Soon. The majority of the memorials was posted by family members of the deceased and had a format of a letter or an obituary. Though the memorials were written for both males and females of all ages, 80% of the messages were written for young males. Fourteen themes were identified, ranging from sadness and expressions of love and other grief reactions of the bereaved, to acknowledgment of suicide and search for reasons for the death. Some of the bereaved wrote about their motives for posting an online memorial. Future studies should determine the impact of involvement in online memorialization on the grief process of suicide survivors.