The presence of absence: The struggle for meaning in the death of a child

Children, Adolescents, and Death: Questions and Answers

Volumn , Issue , 2017, Pages 247-261

  Neimeyer, Robert A ^a   Lichtenthal, Wendy G ^b,c  

^a AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION   (United States)

^b MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER   (United States)

^c WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85015095083     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.4324/9781315266237     Document Type: Chapter

References (53)

1. Boelen, P. A. (2006, January/February). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for complicated grief: Theoretical underpinnings and case descriptions. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 11(1), 1-30.
2. Boelen, P. A., van den Hout, M., & van den Bout, J. (2006). A cognitive-behavioral con-ceptualization of complicated grief. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 1(13), 109-128.
3. Bonanno, G. A. (2014). Meaning making, adversity, and regulatory flexibility. Memory, 21(1), 150-156.
4. Bowlby, J. (1978). Attachment theory and its therapeutic implications. Adolescent Psychiatry, 6, 5-33.
5. Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Loss, sadness and depression (Vol. 3). New York, NY: Basic Books.
6. Breitbart, W., Poppito, S., Rosenfeld, B., Vickers, A., Li, Y., Abbey, J., et al. (2012). A pilot randomized controlled trial of Individual Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 30(12), 1304-1309.
7. Breitbart, W., Rosenfeld, B., Gibson, C., Pessin, H., Poppito, S., Nelson, C., et al. (2010, January 19). Meaning-centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Psychooncology, 19(1), 21-28.
8. Burke, L. A., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2013). Prospective risk factors for complicated grief: A review of the empirical literature. In M. Stroebe, H. Schut, P. Boelen, & J. van den Bout (Eds.), Complicated grief: Scientific foundations for health care professionals (pp. 145-161). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
9. Burke, L. A., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2014). Complicated spiritual grief I: Relation to complicated grief symptomatology following violent death bereavement. Death Studies, 38, 259-267.
10. Burke, L. A., Neimeyer, R. A., Holland, J. M., Dennard, S., Oliver, L., & Shear, M. K. (2014). Inventory of complicated spiritual grief: Development and validation of a new measure. Death Studies, 38, 239-250.
11. Burke, L. A., Neimeyer, R. A., McDevitt-Murphy, M. E., Ippolito, M. R., & Roberts, J. M. (2011). In the wake of homicide: Spiritual crisis and bereavement distress in an African American sample. International Journal of Psychology of Religion, 21, 289-307.
12. Coleman, R. A., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2010). Measuring meaning: Searching for and making sense of spousal loss in later life. Death Studies, 34, 804-834.
13. Currier, J. M., Holland, J. M., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). Sense making, grief and the experience of violent loss: Toward a mediational model. Death Studies, 30, 403-428.
14. Currier, J. M., Malott, J., Martinez, T. E., Sandy, C., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2012). Bereavement, religion and posttraumatic growth: A matched control group investigation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 18, 65-71.
15. Frankl, V. E. (1959/1984). Man’s search for meaning (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Washington Square Press.
16. Frankl, V. E. (1992). Man’s search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
17. Hedtke, L. (2012). Bereavement support groups: Breathing life into stories of the dead Chagrin Falls, OH: Taos Institute.
18. Holland, J. M., Currier, J. M., Coleman, R. A., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2010). The Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES): Development and initial validation of a new measure. International Journal of Stress Management, 17, 325-352.
19. Holland, J. M., Currier, J. M., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). Meaning reconstruction in the first two years of bereavement: The role of sense making and benefit finding. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 53, 173-191.
20. Holland, J. M., Currier, J. M., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2014). Validation of the Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale-Short form in a bereaved sample. Death Studies, 38, 234-238.
21. Hooghe, A., Neimeyer, R. A., & Rober, P. (2012). “Cycling around an emotional core of sadness”: Emotion regulation in a couple after the loss of a child. Qualitative Health Research, 22, 1220-1231.
22. Hooghe, A., Rober, P., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2011). The complexity of couple communication in bereavement: An illustrative case study. Death Studies, 35, 905-924.
23. Keesee, N. J., Currier, J. M., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2008). Predictors of grief following the death of one’s child: The contribution of finding meaning. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64, 1145-1163.
24. Kelly, G. A. (1955). The psychology of personal constructs New York, NY: Norton.
25. Li, J., Laursen, T. M., Precht, D. H., Olsen, J., & Mortensen, P. B. (2005). Hospitalization for mental illness among parents after the death of a child. New England Journal of Medicine, 352(12), 1190-1196.
26. Li, J., Precht, D. H., Mortensen, P. B., & Olsen, J. (2003). Mortality in parents after death of a child in Denmark: A nationwide follow-up study. Lancet, 361(9355), 363-367.
27. Lichtenthal, W. G. (2012). Schema therapy for the lost relationship. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Techniques in grief therapy: Creative strategies for counseling the bereaved (pp. 139-141). New York, NY: Routledge.
28. Lichtenthal, W. G., & Breitbart, W. (2012). Finding meaning through the attitude one takes. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Techniques in grief therapy: Creative strategies for counseling the bereaved (pp. 161-164). New York, NY: Routledge.
29. Lichtenthal, W. G., Burke, L. A., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2011). Religious coping and meaningmaking following the loss of a loved one. Counseling and Spirituality, 30, 113-136.
30. Lichtenthal, W. G., & Cruess, D. G. (2010). Effects of directed written disclosure on grief and distress symptoms among bereaved individuals. Death Studies, 34(6), 475-499.
31. Lichtenthal, W. G., Currier, J. M., Neimeyer, R. A., & Keesee, N. J. (2010). Sense and significance: A mixed methods examination of meaning-making following the loss of one’s child. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 66, 791-812.
32. Lichtenthal, W. G., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2012). Directed journaling. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Techniques of grief therapy: Creative strategies for counseling the bereaved. New York, NY: Routledge.
33. Lichtenthal, W. G., Neimeyer, R. A., Currier, J. M., Roberts, K., & Jordan, N. (2013). Cause of death and the quest for meaning after the loss of a child. Death Studies, 37, 327-342.
34. McDevitt-Murphy, M. E., Neimeyer, R. A., Burke, L. A., & Williams, J. L. (2012). Assessing the toll of traumatic loss: Psychological symptoms in African Americans bereaved by homicide. Psychological Trauma, 4(3), 303-311.
35. Neimeyer, R. A. (Ed.). (2001). Meaning reconstruction and the experience of loss Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
36. Neimeyer, R. A. (2004). Fostering posttraumatic growth: A narrative contribution. Psycho-logical Inquiry, 15, 53-59.
37. Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). Re-storying loss: Fostering growth in the posttraumatic narrative. In L. Calhoun & R. G. Tedeschi (Eds.), Handbook of posttraumatic growth: Research and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
38. Neimeyer, R. A. (2012). Retelling the narrative of the death. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Techniques of grief therapy: Creative strategies for counseling the bereaved (pp. 86-90). New York, NY: Routledge.
39. Neimeyer, R. A., & Currier, J. M. (2009). Grief therapy: Evidence of efficacy and emerging directions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 252-256.
40. Neimeyer, R. A., & Thompson, B. E. (2014). Meaning making and the art of grief therapy. In B. E. Thompson & R. A. Neimeyer (Eds.), Grief and the healing arts. New York, NY: Routledge.
41. Oliver, L. E. (1999). Effects of a child’s death on the marital relationship: A review. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 39(3), 197-227.
42. Park, C. L. (2010). Making sense of the meaning literature: An integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 257-301.
43. Park, C. L. (2013). Religion and meaning. In R. F. Paloutzian & C. L. Park (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality (2nd ed., pp. 357-379). New York, NY: Springer.
44. Prigerson, H. G., Horowitz, M. J., Jacobs, S. C., Parkes, C. M., Aslan, M., Goodkin, K., et al. (2009, August 4). Prolonged grief disorder: Psychometric validation of criteria proposed for DSM-V and ICD-11. PLoS Medicine, 6(8), 1-12.
45. Rogers, C. H., Floyd, F. J., Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J., & Hong, J. (2008). Long-term effects of the death of a child on parents’ adjustment in midlife. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(2), 203-211.
46. Ronen, R., Packman, W., Field, N. P., Davies, B., Kramer, R., & Long, J. K. (2009). The relationship between grief adjustment and continuing bonds for parents who have lost a child. Omega (Westport), 60(1), 1-31.
47. Rynearson, E. K. (Ed.). (2006). Violent death New York, NY: Routledge.
48. Rynearson, E. K., & Salloum, A. (2011). Restorative retelling: Revisiting the narrative of violent death. In R. A. Neimeyer, D. Harris, H. Winokuer, & G. Thornton (Eds.), Grief and bereavement in contemporary society: Bridging research and practice (pp. 177-188). New York, NY: Routledge.
49. Saindon, C., Rheingold, A., Baddeley, J., Wallace, M., Brown, C., & Rynearson, E. K. (2014). Restorative retelling for violent loss: An open clinical trial. Death Studies, 38, 251-258.
50. Shear, C. K., Frank, E., Houch, P. R., & Reynolds, C. F. (2005). Treatment of complicated grief: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 293, 2601-2608.
51. Stroebe, M. (1992). Coping with bereavement: A review of the grief work hypothesis. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 26, 19-42.
52. Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (2010). The Dual Process Model of coping with bereavement: A decade on. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 61, 273-289.
53. Stroebe, M., Schut, H., & Stroebe, W. (2006). Who benefits from disclosure? Exploration of attachment style differences in the effects of expressing emotions. Clinical Psychology Review, 26(1), 66-85.