Previous research has identified three distinct factors that make up the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief-Present (TRIG-Present) scale, which tap into grief-related thoughts, emotional response, and nonacceptance regarding a loss. In the present study, the authors sought to identify which of these core grief experiences in the early aftermath of…

The author argues that in its focus on finding positive outcomes, bereavement research has neglected or denigrated central phenomena in intense and long-term grief: sorrow and solace. Sorrow has two elements: yearning for the dead person and grief's depression. Consolation comes into sorrow in human relationships and from inner resources. The…

This article is intended to engage others in a dialogue about the role and meaning of jokes about suicide. Types of jokes involving suicide are examined to distinguish the different types of humor involved. A sample of 118 recent political cartoons in an online website was downloaded, of which 73 concerned suicide bombers. Examples of suicide…

This investigation explored the relationship between two aspects of meaning in life, presence of meaning in life and search for meaning in life, and the fear of death and dying in young adults. A community sample of participants ("N" = 168) completed measures of meaning in life and death anxiety. A multivariate analysis of variance was…

This study examined patterns of making meaning among 155 parents whose children died from a variety of violent and non-violent causes. Findings indicated 53% of violent loss survivors could not make sense of their loss, as compared to 32% of non-violent loss survivors. Overall, there was overlap in sense-making strategies across different causes…

Acts of deadly violence give rise to powerful emotions and trigger pre-programmed responses that often cause affected persons, including leaders, media, armed forces, and the general public, to act in ways that aggravate the situation and feed into cycles of violence. In this article, a model of the cycle of violence is presented that facilitates…

Following the death of a child, parents are turning to alternative means of communication to express their grief. In this instrumental case study, the authors explore how 1 woman, Amy Ambrusko, communicates her grief experience on her blog, emotionally negotiating loss and parental grief. Guided by M. S. Miles's (1984) parental grief model, the…

In spite of scientific evidence that miscarriage has negative psychological consequences for many individuals and couples, silence and dismissal continue to surround this invisible loss in North American culture and beyond. The grief and sorrow of miscarriage has important implications for clinical practice. It indicates a need for therapeutic…

The authors investigated the importance of dreams of the deceased in the experiencing of prolonged grief (PG) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Cambodian refugees who survived the Pol Pot genocide (1975-1979). Such dreams were frequent in the last month (52% of those surveyed), and most often involved a relative who died in the Pol…

This article investigates the nature, context, and impact of economic stressors associated with loss, drawing on a mixed-methods study of changes in financial circumstances and economic roles following death of a life partner. Findings show how economic changes, and the practicalities of dealing with such transitions, shaped individual responses…

Helpful and unhelpful aspects of bereavement support were investigated from the perspectives of 24 bereaved adults and their volunteer bereavement support workers. Most commonly reported themes were the provision of hope and reassurance, and the opportunity for continued sharing and support. Significantly more clients than volunteers reported…

Grieving is infused by memories and emotions. In this study, bereaved participants recalled either death-related or fond memories of their loved ones. Their emotional arousal was examined via physiologic and voice analytic measures. Both death-related and fond memories generated an acoustic profile indicative of sadness (reflected by voice quality…

This article presents, in the form of a clinical illustration, a therapeutic group of bereaved mothers with special reference to their dreams about their deceased children. The article presents descriptions of the emotions of these mothers and countertransference feelings, a topic that, to our knowledge, has not been frequently studied. The group…

Few studies have distinguished similarities and differences between continuing bonds as they appear in various bereaved populations, particularly parent versus sibling cohorts following a child's death. This mixed-method study compared how parents and siblings experienced continuing bonds in 40 families who lost a child to cancer. Thirty-six…

Bereavement and its accompanying psychological response (grief) constitute potent experiences that necessitate the reorganization of cognitive-affective representations of lost significant attachment figures during both wakefulness and dreaming. The goals of this preliminary study were to explore whether the dream content of 77 adults with…