Coping with the Death of a Loved One: The Seductiveness of Stages It is widely believed that when people lose a loved one, they go through a series of stages including denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. In this blog post, I address whether this is actually the case.
Offering Support to the Bereaved: What Not to Say In this post, I discuss how difficult it can be to help a bereaved person who is suffering. Our feelings of discomfort often lead us to say and do all of the wrong things.
Offering Support to the Bereaved: What to Say and Do In this post, I maintain that to help someone who is grieving, it is important to learn as much as possible about the grieving process. After portraying what many grievers go through, I provide six specific suggestions that will enhance the reader’s skill in providing effective support.
Positive Emotions Following the death of a loved one, many people struggle with negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety. In this blog post, I explain why it is important to experience positive emotions as well.In many cases, mourners feel that there is nothing they can do to improve their outlook on life. I describe two approaches for enhancing positive emotions that have been found to be very effective.
Getting Through the Holidays: Advice from the Bereaved In many cases, the activities surrounding the holidays contrasts markedly with the emptiness of grief. In this blog post, I draw from my experience with mourners to describe difficulties that are commonly experienced. This is followed by specific suggestions that may be useful in coping with these difficulties.
Communicating with the Deceased It is surprisingly common for bereaved people to report that they have communicated with their loved one in some way. In this blog post, I discuss why these incidents occur, and whether they are beneficial or detrimental to those who experience them.
A “Good Death ”The circumstances under which a loved one dies exert a powerful impact on surviving family members. In this blog post, I describe the conditions that promote a “good death” and indicate why they are so elusive in America today.
describe difficulties that are commonly experienced. This is followed by specific suggestions that may be useful in coping with these difficulties.