Death of a Sibling
Grieving After the Death of a Sibling
It may come as no surprise that our founder, Dr. Jerry Rothman lost his older brother when he was just eleven years old. That shattering event affected him so profoundly that it led to his career choice and commitment to help others living with the same circumstance. Grieving after the death of a sibling involves a certain kind of bio-psychology that is hard to define. Each loss is utterly unique and depends so much on the nature of the relationship, but siblings are often interconnected in a complex tangle of emotions and life experiences. Many of our clients who have lost siblings—whether the connection was positive, negative, or more often a combination of both—have described feeling as if a part of themselves has been severed. Indeed, descriptions of loss in general often involve intense imagery and emotions, which need to find expression in a safe and understanding healing environment.
Personal Grief Rituals by Paul M. Martin
Personal Grief Rituals presents a new model for how bereaved individuals can create unique expressions of mourning that are tailored to their psychological needs and grounded in memories and emotions specific to the relationship they lost. This book examines cultures...
On the Washington Post’s “How to Grieve During a Pandemic”
To witness is to protect and preserve experience from being denied out of existence. As mourners we go through phases of protest, not the least of which is the fight to not have our grief taken away from us. Back in September, 2020 when the total number estimated...
Grief Rituals, Part II
by David Fireman, LCSW The anguish of grief takes its own course and demands an unknown schedule. For a time we are dominated by its waves as they crash through us, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. Our reflex is to fortify and resist. It's actually only natural...
Metaphors for Mourners
Grief counseling has a specific character in that it is essentially focused on assisting the griever in recognizing, reacting to, and integrating loss(es). However, while it is distinct in its nature and course, grief counseling often intersects with traditional...
Assigning Meaning To Tragedy
As human beings we struggle with the notion of meaning. Perhaps one of the best discussions of this issue comes from Victor Frankl's, "Man's Search for Meaning." Frankl discusses his own experience as a survivor of Nazi concentration camps and how he worked to find...
Sibling Loss
In American society we suffer from long-standing patterns of anxiety and denial about death. Perhaps as a result, in our grief and mourning processes, we’ve learned to cope with our powerful reactions with self-control and “strength.” It seems we are socially...