ABSTRACT
A child's understanding of death gradually increases with age. J. Piaget's Theory of cognitive development can help to explain how a child requires certain cognitive skills to understand fully the finality and universality of death. In preoperational stage, children's thinking about events is based upon what they see rather than logical or rational thought processes. In concrete operational stage, children understand that causes and consequences are regularly linked, and have increased understanding of the irreversibility and universality of death. In formal operational stage, young people are developing abstract and hypothetical thought, and can therefore appreciate general rules, such as that everyone will die. Bereavement following suicide is traumatic, and the feelings of guilt, shame, stigma, rejection and isolation set it apart from the sadness following other forms of death and can make it harder for surviving relatives to seek help.
