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Faith and Suicide

Posted on August 12, 2008 - by John Pete

Having lost loved ones to suicide, I am deeply saddened and feel abandoned when the Christian faith I look to for support and comfort judge and condemn victims of suicides. While I certainly do not support or advocate suicide, nowhere in The Holy Bible does it exclude from Heaven our loved ones who have taken their own lives. In fact, Jesus said the only unforgivable sin was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, so I am often mystified by seemingly-sanctimonious condemnations of suicide victims on “God’s behalf.” After all, would any loving and compassionate father forever turn away from his child for […]

Poem: Walking With Andrea When Grief Shows Up

Posted on August 12, 2008 - by Fran Dorf

Poet/writer Fran Dorf gives voice to the experience we often have when we see someone who looks like a loved one who has died. It’s a haunting, healing reminder of how grief works.

When You Doubt Your Faith

Posted on August 11, 2008 - by John Pete

Grief counselor John Pete is editor of Open to Hope’s Faith Blog at www.opentohopefaith.com. Here, he opens the conversation about how a major loss can challenge one’s faith

How Long (According to the Media) Should Grief Last?

Posted on August 6, 2008 - by Abel Keogh

Psychologist Bob Baugher studied the way the mainstream media handles loss situations. He found a disturbing pattern of reporting that left the impression that people should “heal” and “recover” from loss — and fast.

Learning to Live Again, One Step at a Time

Posted on August 4, 2008 - by Abel Keogh

When I think back to those dark days following the death of my late wife and daughter, I always return to an early January morning a week before my twenty-seventh birthday. In the months following their deaths, it became routine to awaken at 5:00 a.m. and go for a four mile run. It wasn’t easy. I’d awake five minutes before the alarm clock beeped and stare at the dark ceiling and contemplate the two choices I faced every morning: Stay in bed or go running. Staying in bed was the easy option. Under the covers it was warm and a […]

Dr. Gloria Responds to Newsweek Article “Inside the Grieving Brain”

Posted on August 4, 2008 - by admin

Dear Jamie Ryan, Sorry to hear about you loss of Leah. Thanks for pointing out the article by Jerry Adler, Newsweek, July 26, 2008 While we have not had a chance to review the reach of O’Connor and colleagues using an fMRI machine to probe the neurological basis for complicated grief. We find the idea that grief lasting more six month is “complicated” and therefore would qualify as a mental health issue to be on the silly side. We are always concerned about the fact that the DSM 4 states that it is complicated grief after six months. We hear […]

What Should I do?

Posted on August 1, 2008 - by Abel Keogh

Mary, Provo, Utah
My son Danny died a year ago of an infection at age three. I am now wondering what to do with all his toys. It is too painful for me to keep them in a room as a memorial for him, yet I know how much he loved them. What should I do?

Bereaved Family’s Grief Gets Complicated

Posted on July 30, 2008 - by Abel Keogh

Cindy writes:
I have been listening to your radio show for awhile. I download to iPod and listen in the car. Eight years ago, my 3-year-old son was killed when a truck backed over him while he was walking with his sister and childcare provider to the store. As you can imagine, the pain was […]

For Widows Only — Three Secret Things To Guide You

Posted on July 25, 2008 - by Linda Della-Donna

You’re home now — From the cemetery — Just closed the door on an endless line of well-wishing-filled-with-advice strangers who didn’t know what to say but talked endlessly anyway, and now that they’re gone you know you will never see or hear from most of them ever again. Your hair smells of roses and gladioli and you secretly wish for a giant eraser to erase all the pain. You’ve just buried your life partner; your husband, your best friend. As Joan Didion says, “Life changes fast.” He’s gone now and like it or lump it, you’re not. You stand before […]

Poems: In the Mirror and Two Rivers

Posted on July 22, 2008 - by Abel Keogh

Award-winning poet Pamela Papka Sexton touches on the experience of losing her mother (In the Mirror) and her father (Two Rivers). “The mirror doesn’t lie/She is closer than she seems,” Sexton writes of her mother. Of her father: “I look toward Round Top/and know he is there, stitched/in a tuxedo.”