Death of a Son

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Each catastrophic event has important commonalities with other catastrophes, but also important differences. Other grieving parents have performed random acts of kindness in memory of their child, donated to a cause close to their child's heart, developed a scholarship fund in their child's name, or planted a tree or shrub in their memory. You might find you’re grieving differently from one another, or going through different feelings at different times. In fact, bereaved parents have been found to experience elevated symptoms of depression more than two years following perinatal death of their child [ 57, 84].

What makes working through grief following a death so difficult is the process of realization and acceptance that this person is not going to come back. There will be periods where you are able to carry on with life, while always remembering your child and keeping their memory alive. Factor analysis indicates three independent factors including positive reminiscing, intrusion of PTSD on the grieving process, and existential loss [ 24- 27]. The process of conceiving, giving birth, and raising offspring is shared by virtually all living animals.

Newer intervention models and interventions described below are promising as they are located at times and in places that are more accessible to parents and they focus on the broad range of needs of parents, siblings, and extended family after a child's death. It is much easier to get help in these situations when you are already seeing a professional who knows you and what your family is going through. The question these findings raise is to what extent this type of resilient pattern may also be found among those mourning the death of a child [ 27]. Find ways for your child to connect to the dead person, show their love and show the importance of that person in their life. Bereaved individuals discuss their experience of having changed as a result of the loss, of learning to value anew what is really important to them, and of reviewing priorities.

Speak slowly and pause often, to give them time to understand, and to give yourself time to manage your own feelings. Concerns about the child's own safety and well being in addition to other facts about the situation should not be overlooked. The oncologist told us “he has a 25% chance of living for two years” and also “we will get him into remission, it will be a disaster if we don’t”.

g. extended family and friends, teachers, coaches, peers, health and mental health professionals, religious groups and institutions, community services, and national and international policies and structures [ 75]. This measure has shown strong psychometric properties and is currently being used to follow the clinical course of such complicated bereavement in children. Try to keep a regular pattern to the day with time for activities, such as cleaning, schoolwork, exercise and play. Parents and teachers reported that siblings have significantly lower social competence and higher social withdrawal scores on standardized measures within two years of the death [ 20, 21]. It is important to keep in mind that there are numerous individual, familial, and cultural differences that make responding appropriately to another person's grief anything but a formula.