After the Death of a Child: Living with Loss through the YearsNamed one of the 25 top-rated autobiographies in mental health by Independent Practitioner Magazine After a child dies, the parent's world changes entirely. Years later, this new world has changed the parents. The exact nature of this change—the long-term effects of the death—illuminates the nature of the bond between parents and children. Ann Finkbeiner lost her son in a train accident when he was 18. Several years later, she noticed she was feeling better and wondered whether this feeling was what was meant by "recovery." As a science writer, she read the psychological, sociological, and psychiatric research into parental bereavement. And as a bereaved parent, she asked hard questions of thirty parents whose child had died at least five years before, of all causes and at all ages. In this book, Finkbeiner combines the research and the parents' answers into a description of the parents' new lives. The parents talk about their changed marriages and their changed relationships with their other children, with their friends and relatives. They talk about their attempts to make sense of the death and about their drastically changed priorities. And most important, they talk about how they still love their children, how the child seems to see through their eyes and live through their actions. They move on through their grief, they get on with their lives, but they never let go of their children. Their wisdom is here presented to any in need of it. |
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... Robert , was killed in a car accident : " I think that Robert's death has- tened the breakup of something that should have broken up a long time ago . " Anne and her husband differed over visiting Robert's grave ; Anne didn't want to ...
... Robert passing away . It seemed like it drifted away . " Understanding what people mean is always more difficult on the printed page than in person , and during the interview I thought I was more or less following her . I think she was ...
... Robert . We would go to the movies , go out to a Japanese restaurant , eat sushi , he loved that . Robert was a lot of fun . So in some ways , the things I'm doing are a generation younger than what I am . " " Do you feel closer to Robert ...
Contents
AT FIRST | 1 |
MARGE FORDS MARRIAGE | 24 |
FATHERS AND MOTHERS HUSBANDS AND WIVES Changes in the Marriage | 37 |
Copyright | |
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After the Death of a Child: Living with the Loss Through the Years Ann K. Finkbeiner Limited preview - 2012 |