Bereavement Through Drug Use: Messages From Research

Abstract

This paper presents the initial findings of a research project that is seeking to understand the bereavement experiences of people such as parents, grandparents and siblings, who are close to those who die through illicit drug use. It is argued that the deaths of these individuals are qualitatively different from those related to other substances such as alcohol or nicotine, for example. The reasons for this include the often unexpected nature of the deaths and the young age at which they tend to occur. These deaths result from an activity that is illegal and is regarded as deviant or carries social censure. The deaths under consideration occur in a context that might be poorly understood by those close to the user. The death itself might reveal a relative or friend as drug user for the first time. Drug users also have a ‘spoiled identity’ that can be attached to the bereaved. There are, moreover, few guides to the practitioner as to the difficulties that the bereaved may experience.

Keywords:

• drug misuse
• death
• young people
• drug addiction
• family bereavement

Notes

Philip Guy qualified as a social worker in 1992. He is a lecturer in addictions at the University of Hull and Chair of the Hull and East Yorkshire Council for Drug Problems.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Philip Guy

Philip Guy qualified as a social worker in 1992. He is a lecturer in addictions at the University of Hull and Chair of the Hull and East Yorkshire Council for Drug Problems.