Grief after a death: how it differs from depression, when it lasts too long and what helps

Grief after the death of someone close is not an illness but a natural response to loss. The World Health Organization’s ICD-11 does not regard normal bereavement as a disorder, even though it can affect social life and work (WHO, 2024). The NHS lists shock and numbness (“being in a daze”), overwhelming sadness with lots of crying, tiredness, anger towards the person who died or the reason for the loss, and guilt, for example about feeling angry, about something said or not said, or about not being able to stop the death. It says there is no right or wrong way to feel, and that these feelings may not be there all the time and can appear unexpectedly (NHS, 2026). The US National Institute on Aging (NIA) adds that trouble sleeping, little interest in food and problems concentrating or making decisions are common, and that feeling guilty after laughing at a joke or enjoying time with a friend is a common feeling too (NIA, 2024). If, after losing someone, you have thoughts of ending your life or the wish to be with the person who died grows, please do not carry it alone: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; if you live outside Korea, your family doctor is another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

The idea that grief has five stages (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) comes from a 1969 book in which Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described her conversations with dying patients. It was not drawn from a systematic study of bereaved people. Bereavement researchers note that there is evidence that people experience some of these reactions some of the time, but little to support their coming in sequential stages, and that expecting people to go through stages can harm those who do not; they argue that stage theory should be discarded (Stroebe et al., 2017). The NHS likewise says you may not experience all of the stages, they may not happen in a particular order, and you may not move smoothly between them (NHS, 2026).

Studies that followed grief over time also found differences from the picture stage theory paints. In the Yale Bereavement Study, which interviewed 233 people in Connecticut bereaved by a death from natural causes, from 1 to 24 months after the death, acceptance was the most frequently reported reaction from the first month on, and yearning for the person who died was the strongest of the painful reactions. The researchers read the order in which the reactions peaked as consistent with stage theory (Maciejewski et al., 2007), but the study’s design was criticised, and two of its authors later proposed speaking of grief states that fade over time rather than stages (Stroebe et al., 2017).

The shape of grief also differs from person to person. One study followed married couples in the Detroit area in which the husband was 65 or older, starting before any death, and re-interviewed 205 people who lost their spouse (180 women) 6 and 18 months afterwards. Grouped by how their depressive symptoms changed, the most common pattern was “resilience”: depression low before the loss and unchanged after it (45.9%). The pattern often assumed to be typical, depression rising after the loss and back to its earlier level by about 18 months, was found in 10.7%; chronic grief, with depression raised at both 6 and 18 months, in 15.6%; depression that had been there before the loss and stayed in 7.8%; and depression before the loss that improved afterwards in 10.2%. There was no clear evidence of a delayed grief pattern, and the resilient group had rated their marriages before the loss no differently from those whose grief lasted (Bonanno et al., 2002). In this study, not falling apart was not a sign of a poor relationship. Many people go on having positive emotions after a major loss and show only minor, short-lived disruptions in how they function (Bonanno, 2004).

mind.io does not offer a grief or prolonged grief disorder test. Questionnaires such as the PG-13-R have been developed, but the DSM-5-TR criteria are a common standard for clinicians to tell normal grief from this disorder (APA, 2025), and this guide gives no items or cut-off scores. The depression check-in (PHQ-9) looks at depressive symptoms over the past 2 weeks; it does not judge whether your grief is normal.

Grief after a death can look like depression. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) points to two differences. In grief, painful feelings come in waves, often mixed with positive memories of the person who died; in depression, mood and thoughts are almost constantly negative. In grief, self-esteem is usually preserved; in depression, corrosive feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing are common (APA, 2013). ICD-11 likewise separates them: the symptoms of prolonged grief disorder centre on the person who died and the loss, whereas depressive thoughts and feelings usually reach into many areas of life (WHO, 2024).

That does not mean low mood after a death should always be put down to grief. The older criteria (DSM-IV) told clinicians not to diagnose major depression in the first two months after a death; DSM-5 removed this exclusion so that depression is not overlooked and can be treated. When the two exist together, the grief is more severe and lasts longer (APA, 2013). ICD-11 does not count normal grief within 6 months of a death, including some depressive symptoms, as a depressive episode, and says that depressive symptoms during bereavement in people with no history of depression do not appear to raise the later risk of a mood disorder. But constant depressive symptoms for a month or more after the loss, with no periods of positive mood or enjoyment, extreme feelings of worthlessness and guilt not related to the person who died, psychotic symptoms, suicidal thoughts or a marked slowing of speech and movement suggest that a depressive episode has come on top of the grief (WHO, 2024). The signs of depression are in the depression symptoms guide and its treatment in the depression guide.

The APA says that suicidal thoughts that are distinct from wanting to join the person who died, feelings of worthlessness and a general decline in functioning suggest depression in addition to the normal response to loss (APA, 2013). Either way, if thoughts of death come or the wish to be with the person who died grows, please do not carry them alone: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere. If you live outside Korea, your family doctor or local mental health services are another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

In ICD-11, prolonged grief disorder (6B42) follows the death of a partner, parent, child or other person close to the bereaved. It is a persistent and pervasive grief response marked by longing for the person who died or persistent preoccupation with them, together with intense emotional pain. This can show as sadness, guilt, anger, denial, blame, difficulty accepting the death, feeling that part of oneself has been lost, being unable to feel any positive mood, emotional numbness and difficulty taking part in social or other activities. It is diagnosed when the response lasts an atypically long time, markedly exceeding the social, cultural or religious norms of the person’s culture and context, and significantly impairs personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other functioning. Grief lasting less than 6 months, and longer in some cultural contexts, does not meet this requirement, and it often matters whether family, friends or community who share the person’s cultural or religious outlook see the response as abnormal (WHO, 2024).

ICD-11 lists other features that may appear: keeping all of the person’s belongings exactly as they were, alternating between intense preoccupation and avoiding reminders of the person, feeling that life is meaningless and difficulty trusting others. Tobacco, alcohol and other substance use, as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviour, may increase. Someone with prolonged grief disorder may be preoccupied with memories of how the person died, but unlike in post-traumatic stress disorder they do not re-experience them as if happening again now (WHO, 2024). If the death was sudden or traumatic, such as an accident or disaster, the trauma (PTSD) guide may help too. If you have thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; if you live outside Korea, your family doctor is another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

The APA added prolonged grief disorder to DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022. The death must have happened at least a year earlier for adults and at least 6 months earlier for children and adolescents. Alongside intense longing for the person or preoccupation with thoughts of them, at least three of the following must have been present nearly every day for at least the last month: identity disruption (such as feeling that part of oneself has died), marked disbelief about the death, avoiding reminders that the person is dead, intense emotional pain related to the death, difficulty with reintegration (such as engaging with friends, pursuing interests or planning for the future), emotional numbness, feeling that life is meaningless without the person, and intense loneliness. The grief must also last longer than social, cultural or religious norms would lead one to expect (APA, 2025). The NHS notes that it is also known as complicated grief (NHS, 2026). The list explains what a diagnosis looks for; it is not meant for counting your own symptoms to diagnose yourself.

How common is it? The APA estimates that 4% to 15% of bereaved adults have these persistent symptoms (APA, 2025). A meta-analysis of 14 studies of adults bereaved by non-violent deaths found 9.8%; the authors concluded that about one in ten bereaved adults is at risk, but asked for caution because the studies differed in method and had limited representativeness (Lundorff et al., 2017). An analysis of 34 samples from 16 countries (20,347 participants) found an average of 13%, but 5% in probability samples drawn at random and 16% in other samples, so the method mattered a great deal (Comtesse et al., 2024). In a representative sample of 2,498 people in Germany, the 914 who reported a significant loss had probable rates, from a self-report questionnaire, of 4.2% by ICD-11 and 3.3% by DSM-5-TR criteria (Rosner et al., 2021). ICD-11 says the disorder is more common in women (WHO, 2024). Put the other way, for most bereaved people grief eases over time (APA, 2025).

When is grief more likely to last? A meta-analysis of 120 studies (61,580 participants) published from 1989 to 2023 found that prolonged grief symptoms were most strongly linked with grief symptoms that were present before the death, and with depression. Unexpected deaths, violent or unnatural deaths, lower education and income, being a woman, an anxious attachment style and the death of a child or partner were also linked, in small but statistically significant associations (Buur et al., 2024). The APA also lists a lack of social support and a death in an intensive care unit rather than at home among the risk factors (APA, 2025).

Rates are reported to be higher after unnatural deaths such as accidents, disasters, suicides or homicides. A meta-analysis of 25 studies of such losses found a pooled prevalence of prolonged grief disorder of 49%, higher after the death of an only child, after homicides and in studies from non-Western countries, and lower when more time had passed or the loss came from a natural disaster; because the studies differed so much in method, the authors urged caution (Djelantik et al., 2020). This 49% cannot be compared directly with the rates found in other studies. For COVID-19 losses, results differ between studies. In one convenience sample, the 49 people bereaved by COVID-19 had higher grief symptoms than the 1,182 bereaved by natural causes (effect size d = 0.42), a difference explained by the death being unexpected (Eisma et al., 2021). Another study of Dutch adults bereaved on average 8 months earlier found no difference in acute prolonged grief symptoms, rated without the duration requirement, between COVID-19 losses (76 people) and natural losses (1,036), while unnatural losses (271) scored higher than both; among people bereaved 12 months or more earlier, there was no difference between the three (Lenferink & Boelen, 2023).

People who lose someone close to suicide are often called suicide-bereaved, or suicide loss survivors. The Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention explains that this can include not only family but also close friends, colleagues and neighbours (Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention, n.d.). A review of 57 studies on suicide bereavement found some evidence that people bereaved by suicide feel more rejection and shame than relatives bereaved by other violent deaths (Pitman et al., 2014). A 2010 survey of 3,432 students and staff aged 18 to 40 at 37 UK universities who had experienced a sudden bereavement found that of the 614 who had lost a relative or friend to suicide, a minority, 56 (9%), had attempted suicide since the loss, a higher share than among those bereaved by sudden natural deaths (5%; adjusted odds ratio 1.65). There was no clear difference compared with people bereaved by other sudden unnatural deaths such as accidents, no group difference in suicidal thoughts, and the difference was no longer significant once perceived stigma was taken into account, nor once repeated sudden bereavements were taken into account (Pitman et al., 2016). A higher risk means that help is needed, so please do not carry the pain, or other people’s reactions, alone. If you have lost someone to suicide and have thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere. If you live outside Korea, your family doctor or local mental health services are another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. Support for people bereaved by suicide in Korea is described below, and what to do when suicidal thoughts come, and how to support someone, is in the self-harm guide.

Some losses go unrecognised by others. A review of 48 studies of people who lost a pet found that they often reported embarrassment and loneliness, and the studies agreed that their grief is likely to go unacknowledged (Park et al., 2023). A study that followed women after early pregnancy loss at three London hospitals found that 1 month after the loss, more reported moderate to severe anxiety (24%) and depression (11%) than women with ongoing pregnancies (13% and 2%); 9 months after a miscarriage, 16% met the screening criteria for post-traumatic stress, 17% for moderate to severe anxiety and 5% for moderate to severe depression. Only 46% of the women with a loss answered the 9-month survey (Farren et al., 2020). The NHS adds that grief can also follow the end of a relationship, losing a job, moving home or someone close becoming seriously ill (NHS, 2026). Prolonged grief disorder in ICD-11 requires the death of a person close to you (WHO, 2024), but having no diagnostic name for a loss does not mean you have to carry the grief alone.

The NHS suggests talking about your feelings to a friend, family member, healthcare professional or counsellor, considering peer support from people who have been through something similar, regular exercise, which can improve mood and may help you sleep, and regular meals to keep your energy steady. It advises setting small targets you can easily achieve rather than doing everything at once, and not using alcohol, cigarettes, gambling or drugs to relieve grief (NHS, 2026). The NIA suggests trying to get enough sleep, having lunch with friends if eating at home alone feels too quiet, and, if you have a choice, delaying big decisions such as selling your home or leaving your job. It suggests going through the person’s belongings when you feel ready and, instead of parting with everything at once, sorting them into things to keep, things to give away and things you are “not sure” about (NIA, 2024). If your sleep has been disrupted for a long time, see the insomnia guide; if you feel cut off from people, see the loneliness guide.

The dual process model proposed by bereavement researchers sees moving back and forth between facing the loss itself and rebuilding a changed life, and sometimes taking a break from both, as part of healthy adjustment (Stroebe & Schut, 1999). If you find yourself blaming yourself for the moments when you step away from grief, the self-compassion guide may help.

Not everyone needs counselling. The APA says that for most people grief eases over time and, although it may sometimes increase again, usually does not require mental health treatment (APA, 2025). A meta-analysis of 61 controlled studies found that, overall, interventions had a small effect at the end of treatment and no statistically significant benefit at follow-up. Interventions only for people having marked difficulty adapting to the loss, however, had results comparable to psychotherapy for other problems, and the authors suggested that the discouraging results of studies that offered help without screening for distress could be due to people in the control groups also improving naturally over time (Currier et al., 2008). Another meta-analysis of 14 randomised trials likewise found that preventive interventions offered to bereaved people did not appear effective, whereas treatment for people already experiencing complicated grief worked, and its effect grew during follow-up (Wittouck et al., 2011). That is not a reason to avoid counselling: talking to a counsellor about your feelings is one of the things the NHS suggests (NHS, 2026).

For grief that lasts, there are targeted treatments. A meta-analysis of 31 randomised trials in bereaved adults, pooling trials that selected people with high symptoms and trials that did not, found that psychological interventions reduced grief symptoms (effect size g = 0.41, and 0.45 at follow-up). The effect at the end of treatment shrank to 0.31 after adjusting for possible publication bias, and the methodological quality of the trials varied considerably. Effects were larger in studies of individual therapy, of people bereaved 6 months or more, and of people with high symptoms at the start (Johannsen et al., 2019). In a trial that randomised 95 adults aged 18 to 85 with complicated grief (83 women) to 16 sessions of either treatment, both reduced symptoms, but complicated grief treatment (CGT) had a higher response rate than interpersonal psychotherapy (51% vs 28%) and worked faster (Shear et al., 2005). In a follow-up trial of 395 people at four US academic medical centres, where everyone received education, grief monitoring and encouragement to engage in activities, 82.5% of those who also had CGT responded, compared with 54.8% on placebo alone. An antidepressant did not significantly raise the response rate compared with placebo and did not improve grief outcomes when added to CGT, although depressive symptoms fell more when it was added to CGT. Suicidal thoughts fell more among people who received CGT (Shear et al., 2016). The APA says treatments using elements of cognitive behavioural therapy are effective, that prolonged grief therapy focuses on accepting the reality of the loss and on regaining goals and satisfaction in a world without the person, and that there are currently no medicines for the specific symptoms of grief (APA, 2025). Take any medicine only on prescription, and if you already take one, do not stop it suddenly on your own: talk to the prescriber first.

The NHS advises seeing a GP if you are struggling to cope with stress, anxiety or low mood, if low mood has lasted more than 2 weeks, if the things you are trying yourself are not helping, or if you have symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (NHS, 2026). Where to start in Korea is described below. If you have thoughts of ending your life or the wish to be with the person who died grows, please do not carry it alone: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere. If you live outside Korea, your family doctor or local mental health services are another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

Not knowing what to say makes it easy to put off getting in touch, but the UK charity Cruse Bereavement Support says it is often better to say something than nothing at all. If you are unsure how to start, tell them how sorry you are to hear the news; do not assume you know how they feel; and make time to really listen, without interrupting. Offer specific help: “I can pick the children up from school on Thursday” is better than “let me know if there’s anything I can do”. Listen if they would like to talk, or be with them if they need company (Cruse, 2025). People sometimes hesitate to bring up the loss or mention the name of the person who died for fear of hurting, but many may find it helpful to talk directly about their loss (NIA, 2024).

Stay around as time goes by. Cruse reminds us that there are no set stages of grief, and suggests keeping in touch and checking in over time, sharing memories of the person who died or suggesting ways to remember them together. Grief can hit when least expected, with many triggers, even years after a death, and mentioning the person’s name shows they are remembered (Cruse, 2025). The APA likewise notes that grief may sometimes increase again (APA, 2025). In families with children, remember that the children are grieving too, and that open, honest communication matters (NIA, 2024).

Feelings such as sadness or guilt that do not get any easier as the months go by, spending a lot of time thinking about the person who died, difficulty accepting the death and not being able to return to everyday activities are among the NHS’s symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (NHS, 2026). If these continue, suggest seeing a doctor or counsellor together. If they say they want to die or to be with the person who died, do not judge the situation alone: contact a crisis line together, such as 988 by call or text in the US and Canada, Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or a line found at findahelpline.com elsewhere; outside Korea, their family doctor is another place to start. If they are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. Look after yourself too, so that you can look after others (Cruse, 2025).

In 2025, 362,968 people died in Korea (Statistics Korea, 2026), and each year as many families and friends lose someone close. If grief lasts or everyday life has fallen apart, you can see a psychiatrist or contact your city, county or district mental health welfare centre; the mental health crisis line 1577-0199 (24 hours) connects mobile callers to a nearby centre, and to a regional centre at night and on holidays (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2025). The conditions for the 2026 counselling voucher are in the depression guide. If you lost family in a disaster or accident, Korean law gives the National Center for Disaster and Trauma the task of psychological assessment, counselling and treatment for people harmed by disasters or other accidents and their families (National Center for Disaster and Trauma, n.d.). If you are not sure whom to contact, start with 1577-0199.

If you lost a relative or someone close to suicide, Korea has a one-stop service for people bereaved by suicide. Started in 2019, it has covered all 17 provinces and cities since 1 July 2026. When a suicide happens, staff from the local suicide prevention centre go within 24 hours to where the family is, such as the funeral hall or police station, to offer comfort and explain the support. It brings together psychological support such as counselling, self-help groups and psychological autopsy; practical and financial support such as legal and administrative costs, psychiatric treatment costs, school fees, temporary housing and specialist cleaning; and links to local welfare services, and it is expanding peer support from bereaved people who have recovered. In 2025, 2,834 bereaved people in 12 provinces and cities received support (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2026).

The ministry reported that among bereaved people who used the service, the share with severe depressive symptoms fell from 27.8% just after the death to 6.5% 3 months later, and the share with suicidal thoughts from 11.2% to 6.4% (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2026). This was a before-and-after comparison without a comparison group, so not all of the change can be credited to the service. In bereavement research, people who received no intervention have also been seen to improve over time (Currier et al., 2008). The Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s website has pages for applying for support and for peer support for bereaved people (Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention, n.d.). If you have thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; in Korea, the suicide prevention line is 109 (24 hours, free). If you live outside Korea, your family doctor or local mental health services are another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

Q. Is there a grief or prolonged grief disorder test? A. mind.io does not offer a grief or prolonged grief disorder test. Questionnaires such as the PG-13-R exist, but the DSM-5-TR criteria are a common standard for clinicians to tell normal grief from this disorder (APA, 2025), and the depression check-in (PHQ-9) only looks at depressive symptoms over the past 2 weeks; it does not judge whether your grief is normal. Whatever any score says, if you have thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; if you live outside Korea, your family doctor is another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

Q. It has been more than a year and I still grieve. Is that abnormal? A. Not necessarily. The shape and length of grief vary greatly from person to person (Stroebe et al., 2017; Bonanno et al., 2002). For most people it eases over time, although it may sometimes increase again (APA, 2025), and it can return with unexpected triggers even years later (Cruse, 2025). Prolonged grief disorder is not about time alone: it describes intense longing and pain beyond what one’s culture would expect that seriously disrupt daily life. The minimum period is 6 months in ICD-11 and one year for adults in DSM-5-TR, and longer mourning can be normal in some cultures (WHO, 2024; APA, 2025). In one study that followed people bereaved by natural causes, the painful reactions peaked, on average, within about 6 months, and the researchers suggested that people for whom they remain high after that might benefit from further evaluation (Maciejewski et al., 2007).

Q. I seem to see or hear the person who died. A. This is not a rare experience. A review of studies found that 30% to 60% of widowed people reported sensory experiences such as seeing or hearing the person who died, though the studies of bereaved people were very small (Castelnovo et al., 2015). ICD-11 notes that some societies consider any waking encounter with the deceased abnormal, while in many southern European and Latin American societies visits from deceased relatives soon after the death are common and can be comforting (WHO, 2024). It also says that constant depressive symptoms for a month or more with no periods of positive mood, or suicidal thoughts, during bereavement suggest a depressive episode on top of grief (WHO, 2024). If these experiences are distressing or frightening, or come with such signs, see a doctor. If you have thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; if you live outside Korea, your family doctor is another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

Q. Is the grief after losing a pet, or after a miscarriage, real grief? A. Yes, it is grief after a loss. A review of 48 studies found that people who lose a pet often feel embarrassment and loneliness and that their grief tends to go unacknowledged; it identified ways of coping such as social support, continuing bonds with the animal and memorialisation, but said more research is needed on which of them work (Park et al., 2023). Grief for a pet has its own guide: pet loss. Some women still had anxiety or post-traumatic stress symptoms 9 months after a miscarriage (Farren et al., 2020). Prolonged grief disorder in ICD-11 requires the death of a person close to you (WHO, 2024), but whatever the name, if it is hard, it is fine to talk about it and get help. If low mood lasts more than 2 weeks, see a doctor (NHS, 2026).

Q. I keep thinking about following the person who died. A. Please do not carry this alone. Call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; if you live outside Korea, your family doctor or local mental health services are another place to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. The APA says that suicidal thoughts distinct from wanting to join the person who died, or feelings of worthlessness, suggest depression on top of grief (APA, 2013). Suicidal thoughts can also increase in prolonged grief disorder (WHO, 2024), but in a trial of adults with complicated grief, they fell more among people who received complicated grief treatment (CGT) than among those who did not (Shear et al., 2016). Whichever it is, help is available, so tell someone you trust how you feel right now.

Q. Do I have to see a counsellor? A. Not necessarily. Most grief eases over time without mental health treatment (APA, 2025), and help offered without screening for distress showed disappointing results. Interventions for people having marked difficulty adapting, however, did help (Currier et al., 2008). If things are not getting better after some months or you cannot return to daily life, see a doctor or counsellor (NHS, 2026). Talking to a counsellor simply because you want to talk is also one of the things the NHS suggests (NHS, 2026).

Q. I lost a family member to suicide. Where can I get help? A. You do not have to carry this alone. If you have thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere; in Korea, call the suicide prevention line 109 (24 hours, free) or the mental health crisis line 1577-0199, which connects you to a nearby centre (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2025). If you live outside Korea, your family doctor is another place to start, and if you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. Since July 2026, a one-stop service in all 17 Korean provinces and cities offers counselling, self-help groups and help with legal and administrative matters and psychiatric treatment costs in one place (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2026). A UK study found that young adults who lost a relative or friend to suicide had attempted suicide more often than those bereaved by sudden natural deaths, but the difference was no longer significant once their own sense of stigma was taken into account (Pitman et al., 2016). A higher risk means that help is needed, so do not carry the pain, or other people’s reactions, alone. What to do when suicidal thoughts come, and how to support someone, is in the self-harm guide.

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