Posttraumatic growth after suicide loss is rarely visible from the outside. When a man loses someone to suicide, the world often sees the shock and confusion — the disrupted routines, the blankness, the “just getting through the day”.
What people usually don’t see is the internal work that begins after that: trying to understand what happened, what it means, and how to carry something that doesn’t make sense yet. That early process is often invisible to others, but it sits heavily in a man’s day-to-day life.
A new systematic review gives us one of the clearest pictures yet of what helps people rebuild after a loss that can feel impossible to make sense of.
Before anything else, a quick definition:
What is Posttraumatic Growth (PTG)?
PTG refers to the positive psychological changes that can emerge after living through a traumatic or deeply challenging event.
It does not mean the trauma was “good” or that grief becomes easier.
It means a man’s identity, values, and perspective may shift — often towards clarity, depth, and a renewed sense of what matters.
PTG doesn’t erase the pain.
It describes what can grow around the pain.
What the Research Shows About Posttraumatic Growth After Suicide Loss
Across 21 studies and 4,759 participants, three factors consistently support growth after suicide loss:
Time — but only when it is supported by reflection
The study found a modest correlation between time and PTG.
Not because time heals on its own, but because time allows space for internal reorganisation, perspective, and meaning-making to take shape.
Social support — the strongest external predictor of growth
Supportive relationships significantly reduce depression, suicidality, and complicated grief — and strongly increase PTG.
When a man has someone who can sit with him without judgement or pressure, it becomes easier to get his bearings and work through what’s happening inside him
Self-disclosure — speaking the truth of the loss
This had one of the strongest correlations with growth.
Self-disclosure helps when it happens at a man’s own pace and in a space that feels safe and steady. It doesn’t help when he feels pressured to talk or when the environment isn’t built for honesty.”
How Men Begin Posttraumatic Growth After a Suicide Loss
The study highlights several internal processes that enable growth. Men often begin to make sense of the loss by:
Reconstructing the story
Trying to understand what happened, what it meant, and how it changed their world.
Meaning-making
The study indicates that growth is more achievable when a man begins to understand what the loss signifies and how it has transformed his life. This process — not the reduction of grief itself — is what fosters long-term growth.
Re-evaluating who they are now
Identity questions naturally arise:
What kind of man am I after this? What remains true? What no longer fits?
Engaging in new patterns of coping
Problem-focused coping, planning, self-forgiveness, and acceptance were all linked with higher PTG.
Men grow not by forgetting the loss, but by slowly learning how to live alongside it.
A Personal Note
This research resonates deeply with me.
When my son Matthew died in 2009, nothing in me knew how to make sense of the world I suddenly found myself in. Meaning-making wasn’t a concept — it was survival. Over time, that experience reshaped everything: my identity, my work, and the reason Mentoring Through the Maze exists today.
My work with men is grounded in that simple truth:
Growth becomes possible when a man has room to explore what the loss means, who he is now, and how he wants to live forward.
Not by forcing emotion. Not by demanding disclosure. But by offering a steady space where sense-making can happen at his own pace.
What Gets in the Way of Posttraumatic Growth
The study also highlighted several obstacles:
- Feeling like a burden
- Fear of judgement or stigma
- Keeping the loss hidden
- A sense of not belonging anywhere
These interpersonal barriers had strong negative correlations with PTG.
It’s not the grief that blocks growth — it’s the isolation surrounding it.
For Men Carrying a Suicide Loss
You don’t have to “move on.”
You don’t have to talk before you’re ready.
You don’t have to force meaning or clarity.
Growth begins with one steady truth:
You are allowed to take your time.
And you are allowed to find your own way through this.
When you want support — structured, grounded, at your pace — that’s what Mentoring Through the Maze is for.
If you want to explore this at your own speed, reach out.
No pressure. No expectations. Just a place to find your footing again.
To read more on this, see
Post-Traumatic Growth in Men: How Sudden Loss Changes Thinking, Identity and Direction
Full Academic Reference
Whittaker, S., Rasmussen, S., Cogan, N., Tse, D. C. K., Martin, B., Andriessen, K., Shiramizu, V., Krysinska, K., & Levi-Belz, Y. (2025). Posttraumatic growth following suicide bereavement: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Loss and Trauma. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2025.2586763