Advance Care Directives - Do they help the grieving?

Last week an adult daughter called the bereavement center very distraught. She was worried that she had made the wrong decision in withdrawing life support from her mother. I killed her… I killed her she repeated. After expressing my condolences, I asked about her mother …her likes… dislikes… what kind of person she was…what kind of mom she was…After the woman was settled I asked if she and her mother had talked about what her mom wanted at the end of life. She was very clear that her mother did not want to be hooked up to machines or to be a burden, and that she would have wanted to be remembered as the very lively woman she was. Even though she knew what her mother would have wanted, the two did not talk about advance directives. If they had... click here to read more

Comfort and hope for older adults who are grieving

My parents start the day by reading the obituaries and many older adults do the same. They think about their own mortality while grieving the death of family, friends and the community at large.

Older adults experience grief much the same as younger and middle-aged adults. However, due to their age and life experience, many factors can impact their grief reaction.

The natural process of aging includes many losses. These include loss of physical strength and endurance, loss of independence, loss of mobility and loss of youth and beauty. Older adults may have to give up their role in the family and subsequently, family dynamics change.
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Grief in and for Japan

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, the families and everyone affected by the earthquake and tsunami, in Japan as well as those in Hawaii and the Pacific coast. International aid groups are bringing medical supplies and attention, food and communication tools to the millions of folks who have been displaced from the their homes or injured. If you are able, consider donating to a reputable organization such as Red Cross or Doctor's Without Borders.

To read more on coping with tragedy like this, please read one of my earlier posts.

The Power of Grief: Death of a Sibling

Sibling relationships are like no other. There is a commonality that does not exist in other relationships. When a sibling dies, the loss can be overpowering.

Even as adults, siblings are often thought of as the “forgotten mourners.” Friends and neighbors offer comfort and support to mom and dad, but often neglect siblings, disenfranchising their grief.

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