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Parent Grief: Narratives of Loss and Relationship (Series in Death, Dying and Bereavement)
Parent Grief Narratives of Loss and Relationship - Series in Death, Dying and Bereavement Author:Paul C. Rosenblatt Based on intensive interviews with 29 couples who lost at least one child (age newborn to mid 30's), this book explores what couple and individual stories say and do not say about the child's dying and death and about parent grief. Among the dozens of areas that the book illuminates are the process of searching for what is true and right about ... more »the death and its aftermath; the ways the parents characterize the child; the continuing relationship of parents and child; the language of couple conflict and divorce; parent metaphors in talking about the dying process, death, and grief; organ donation; death rituals; the sexual relationship of the grieving parents.
The author uses narratives as his tool for the introduction and exploration of the many facets of parental grief as well as life after the death of a child. The number of narratives used is a manageable one that offers key concepts while maintaining organization. The use of narratives is key to the book and to the research as the narratives represent the realities of the parents in their own terms (what they have thought about; what's important to them). At the couple level, these narratives shed light on what a couple can and can not work through following the death of a child and the rebuilding of their own lives. Such a window to the grief process and life for the couple after the death of their child is novel, fascinating, and critical to the endeavors of grief therapists.« less