Philosophical Counseling on Mourning for Bereaved Families of Suicide: Victims Focusing on Jaspers’ Psychology of Worldviews

This study explores a philosophical counseling approach to mourning for families bereaved by suicide, grounded in Karl Jaspers’ concept of worldview (Weltanschauung). The intense psychological distress experienced by suicide survivors is often rooted in culturally, ethically, and religiously reinforced belief systems. These belief systems, when internalized as absolute truths, form rigid worldviews that constrain emotional processing and healing. Drawing on Jaspers’ early work, Psychology of Worldviews, this paper argues that such suffering arises from the entanglement of subjective attitudes toward life and objective world images, both of which constitute an individual’s worldview. By examining the interplay between subjective “attitudes”(Einstellungen) - represented by personal experience, capacity, and conviction—and objective “world images” (Weltbilder) - perceived as universal truths—this study analyzes the structure and formation of worldviews as defined by the “life of the spirit”(Leben des Geistes). It further investigates how these fixed worldviews develop over time, often reinforcing shame, guilt, and emotional paralysis in bereaved families. Through the lens of philosophical counseling, the paper proposes a path toward liberation: challenging inherited, rigid worldviews surrounding suicide and guiding survivors toward the possibility of a renewed, spiritually grounded, and self-compassionate perspective. Ultimately, this approach aims to foster healing by enabling individuals to transcend limiting beliefs, protect themselves from self-directed emotional violence, and reclaim inner freedom.