By Avidan Milevsky Ph.D. — 2020
The plight of siblings who have lost a major part of their life.
Read on www.psychologytoday.com
CLEAR ALL
Joanne Cacciatore of Sedona started the nonprofit MISS Foundation in 1996 to provide counseling, advocacy, research and education services to families who have endured the death of a child.
Part of being human means that we do experience the natural ebb and flow of life. This brings sadness and joy, despair and happiness, pain and beauty, loss and love. These aspects of the human experience are normal.
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Most of you know her as Dr. Joanne Cacciatore, founder of the MISS Foundation and professor and researcher at Arizona State University. Her expertise is helping those affected by traumatic death.
"But now we’re asked — and sometimes forced — to carry grief as a solitary burden. And the psyche knows we are not capable of handling grief in isolation." - Francis Weller
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The mismatch between the knowledge and the longing is perhaps the most anguishing of all human experiences.
The death of a loved one often comes with devastating consequences for those left behind. In adults, grief caused by the death of a spouse or child has been linked to a number of negative health affects, including heart trouble and increased risk of death.
The impact of the death of a person in some relationships does not always receive the attention it deserves. Siblings are often referred to as the “forgotten grievers.”
The loss of any close family member can be a heart-wrenching experience, but it is a very unique experience when you lose a sibling.
While everyone will experience the loss of a loved one at some time in his or her life, and no loss is easy, losing a brother or sister is especially difficult because of the bond formed between siblings. More research and attention is now being placed on the sibling grieving experience.
The loss of a family member is probably one of the hardest emotional experiences we ever have to endure. The death of a brother or sister comes with its own unique set of thoughts and feelings.