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At the Bedside: Perhaps the Hokey Pokey IS What it’s All About

Posted on August 26, 2010 - by Lizzy Miles

It was a Friday night when I received a call from my Uncle Paul who told me that my Aunt Jerry, who had end-stage Alzheimer’s disease, had suffered two seizures and a heart attack and was in the hospital. With her condition, one might have expected that she might have died the next day. She didn’t. She lived through the weekend and was discharged on Sunday on hospice back to Kemper House, the Alzheimer’s facility. Early that week, I was in another room at Kemper House on the phone when I got an urgent call from a cousin. I think […]

Men’s Grief: It’s Time to Get it Out

Posted on August 25, 2010 - by Ron Villano

The emotions of grief are the same for men and women. How and when these emotions surface is what defines each journey. But what I am struck with the most in my practice as a psychotherapist is how powerful this journey is for men. Men fight showing their emotions under normal circumstances. Now, they have to fight to keep a hold of the emotion when the emotions themselves are mostly out of control. Women can and often grieve as a group. They can publicly cry, be angry, sad — and then be happy, joyful, upbeat. And when someone asks them […]

The Importance of Adequate Support for the Bereaved

Posted on August 24, 2010 - by David Roberts

In his book, The Spiritual Lives of Bereaved Parents, Dennis Klass, Ph.D., discusses the importance of bereaved parents maintaining connection with their deceased children in communities that support that connection. Our ability as bereaved parents to access and receive support from other parents who understand our pain is critical to us feeling less isolated in our grief. Adequate support also is crucial in helping us adjust to a world without the physical presence of our children. Soon after my daughter Jeannine died in March of 2003, it was suggested that my wife Cheri (Jeannine’s mom) and I go to a […]

What Seasons Can Teach Us About Loss

Posted on August 23, 2010 - by Tabitha Jayne

Grief is a natural response to the loss of something, so where better to look for understanding about grief and loss than to nature itself? If we look at the seasons, we can gain understanding about how grief affects us and how we can support ourselves as we move through our own seasons of grief. Winter arrives the moment we find out about our loss. Like a blanket of snow the covers the ground, our knowledge that everything has changed stops us in our tracks. This is the time to rest and allow yourself space and time to recover. Just […]

Woman Misses Husband Who Was ‘Finder’ and ‘Keeper’

Posted on August 21, 2010 - by Sandra Pesmen

I always used to get upset when I lost something. Other people could misplace a key, lose a glove, or forget where they set down their wallet without going nuts. But whenever that happened to me, I went into a panic. I actually felt my blood pressure rise–and who needed that? Fortunately, I was married to a “finder” for 56 years. (Obviously, he also was a “keeper.”) A patient, careful man who always secretly yearned to be a detective, my husband would start at the top of our home and search every corner until he exclaimed with great satisfaction “I’ve […]

One Mother’s Grief Journey

Posted on August 20, 2010 - by Amy C. Maddocks

I lost my son, Connor, on January 3rd, 2007—the day my world came crashing down. I had waited 17 years for my miracle number two, as I wasn’t supposed to be able to ever have children again. Even my daughter, born in 1989, was a miracle. Now my son was being taken away from me. Connor was only three days old when he got an infection in his lungs that ultimately took his life. My husband and I were able to hold him while he took his last breaths. The doctors and nurses that had so valiantly tried to save […]

Laughter is Key to Grief Recovery

Posted on August 20, 2010 - by Harriet Hodgson

Humans were meant to laugh. The ability to laugh is wired into our minds, and that is a good thing for all who mourn. Four of my loved ones, including my elder daughter, died in 2007, and I thought I would never laugh again. As the months passed, however, my humor slowly returned. Laughing helped me cope with multiple losses. “I think my zany New York sense of humor is going to save me,” I told my husband. In the early stages of grief, my laughter was as rusty as an old hinge. If I laughed unexpectedly, I enjoyed it, […]

Researcher Seeks Sibling-Loss Survivors

Posted on August 19, 2010 - by admin

My name is Kaitlin Carrozza, and I am a doctoral student at Loyola University in Maryland. I am completing my dissertation on sibling loss, and I’d like your help with my study. The current study investigates individuals’ pattern of relating to others, how they cope following the death of a sibling, and their relationship satisfaction. If you have experienced the death of a sibling, and are interested in expanding our knowledge about the experience of sibling loss, then you would be a good candidate to complete this survey. The following link will take you directly to the survey, where more […]

How Long is Too Long to Grieve?

Posted on August 19, 2010 - by Barb Roberts

Is there some magic amount of time to grieve a death, or the break up of a relationship, the break up of a family, loss of a job, financial downturns, loss of a pet? I’m talking about grief and loss, hurting, struggling, pain, sadness, anger. How long does it take to “get over” someone or something? Would it be helpful for you to know that grief takes as long as it takes? I often have people ask me what is a normal time to grieve this. I tell them there is not a formula for grieving. Certainly experience and coping […]

Giving to Others Helps the Griever

Posted on August 18, 2010 - by Amy C. Maddocks

When your child dies at any age a part of you dies with them. Whether they only lived within the womb or whether they lived thirty years, a part of you is lifeless. The question you must ask yourselves is: What are you going to do with that missing piece? Can it ever be filled? If so, what will it be filled with? When my grandfather died, I felt as though my heart would break. He practically raised me, and to have him pass away was just plain sad. Then my father died and that heartbreak happened. To have him […]