The deceased child in the psychic and social worlds of bereaved parents during the resolution of grief

The deceased child in the psychic and social worlds of bereaved parents during the resolution of grief

Klass D

Death Studies

1997

Humans; United States; Parent-Child Relations; Social Values; Self-Help Groups; bereavement; Parents/psychology; SSHRC CURA

A core dynamic by which grief is resolved by parents in Bereaved Parents, a self-help group, is a series of transformations of the inner representation of the dead child in the parent's inner world and in the parent's social world. As the reality of the child's death as well as the reality of the parent's continuing bond with the child are made part of the socially shared reality, the inner representation of the child can be transformed in the parent's psychic life. The end of grief is not severing the bond with the dead child, but integrating the child into the parent's life in a different way than when the child was alive. This article traces the course of the inner representation of the child in the parent's inner life and social world as the parent progresses through Bereaved Parents. It concludes with some comments on the differences that should be maintained between scholarly and popular understandings of phenomena in the continuing bonds survivors maintain with the dead.

1997

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Journal Article

Backlog