The inner representations of the dead child in the psychic and social narratives of bereaved parents.

2001 ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Klass
Keyword(s):  
Bereaved Parents ◽  
Social Narratives ◽  
Dead Child ◽  
The Dead

Becoming a Bereaved Parent

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 70-86
Author(s):  
Ester Holte Kofod
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interview ◽  
Interview Study ◽  
Parental Bereavement ◽  
Bereaved Parents ◽  
Dead Child ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Infant Loss ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Transitory State

In this essay, I explore the significance of involving personal experiences with loss in my research on parental bereavement. By intersecting autoethnography and findings from a qualitative interview study with bereaved parents following infant loss, I argue that while popular and professional accounts depict normal grief as a transitory state, parental accounts present grief as a continuing and open-ended relationship with the dead child. In acknowledgment of this, I present fragmentary, non-reifying narratives of the continuing realities of becoming a bereaved parent.

The Inner Representation of the Dead Child and the World Views of Bereaved Parents

1993 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Klass
Keyword(s):  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Bereaved Parents ◽  
Dead Child ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Child's Death ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Self Help Group

The trauma of a child's death challenges the parents' worldview, that is, their basic assumptions about how the universe functions and the place or power they have in the universe. The experience of the death is either assimilated into the worldview, or the worldview must accommodate it. This article demonstrates how the task of affirming or remolding the worldview is consistently intertwined with the parents' continued interaction with the inner representation of their dead child. Phenomena which indicate interaction with the inner representation of the deceased are a sense of presence, hallucinations in any of the senses, memory, use of linking objects, or a conscious incorporation of the characteristics or virtues of the dead into the self. Data is from a ten-year ethnographic study of a self-help group of bereaved parents.

Too small to be noticed? Children mummies reveal they stories

1970 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chryssi Bourbou
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Mortality ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Dead Child ◽  
Social Tensions ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Dead

The study of sub-adult remains, either skeletal or mummified, has been always a fairly neglected subject of bioarchaeology. Regarding mummified subadult remains, it mainly seems that fascinating stories (i.e., mountain sacrifice mummies) are usually discussed in detail. However, whilst childhood is a biological stage of human development, it is also a social construct and many past and present societies assign different values and meanings (i.e., cultural beliefs, social tensions) to the dead child. This presentation addresses the biocultural context of children mummies based on a meticulous survey of up-dated published reports. In addition, paleopathological observations are discussed, as well as the future need for systematic studies of subadult mummies (i.e., mortality patterns, maternal mortality).

The Death of a Newborn Twin: How Can Support for Parents Be Improved?

1986 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 115-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Bereaved Parents ◽  
The Dead

AbstractThe experiences and needs of mothers who lose a newborn twin were explored by sending semistructured questionnaires to 14 bereaved mothers. All mothers continued to think of the surviving child as a twin. Six had feelings of resentment towards the survivor. All felt their loss had been underestimated. Support could be improved by acknowledging the mother's grief and encouraging her to talk about the dead baby. Zygosity should be determined and reminders, such as photographs (of the babies together) and ultrasound scans, provided. All parents should be offered counselling and the opportunity to meet similarly bereaved parents.

The Role of Linking Objects in Parental Bereavement

1999 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inese Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Parental Bereavement ◽  
Bereaved Parents ◽  
Dead Child ◽  
And Function ◽  
Mourning Process

Because linking objects in mourning were first described by Volkan (1972) in the context of pathological grieving, they have been associated with complicated mourning. This descriptive study surveyed forty-nine bereaved parents to assess the existence, characteristics, and function of linking objects in parental bereavement. A majority of the participants reported linking objects. The objects fit into the same categories as those described by Volkan. However, whereas Volkan described ambivalence toward linking objects in his patients, the bereaved parents did not treat their objects in an ambivalent manner. There were no indications in the data that linking objects served as obstacles in the mourning process, as suggested by Volkan. The parents reported that the objects were meaningful, important, and provided a connection with their dead child.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document