ABSTRACT
Norway is a small, wealthy, Western country with a population of only 4.7 million people. The offi cial death records of 2007 reported 485 annual suicides in Norway, with 149 women and 336 men dying by suicide. This implies a total rate of 10.3, and a rate of 7.7 for females, and 16.5 for males (Statistics Norway, 2009). If one estimates a minimum of 10 close bereaved persons for each suicide, this represents a total of more than 5,000 survivors of suicide every year. As in most countries worldwide, Norwegian survivors have over the years met with different forms of stigmatization on the part of society. They have experienced various forms of discrimination from religious and social institutions, and from insurance companies. However, positive changes have taken place in Norway over the last 15 years, a development that is predominantly due
to increasingly fl exible attitudes about other stigmatized areas of society, but also to requirements for increased tolerance in general.
