When The Bough Breaks: Forever After the Death of a Son or Daughter [Paperback]

Ph.D. Judith R. Bernstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

"For every parent who loses a child, when one life ends another life is forever changed." --from When the Bough Breaks

When the Bough Breaks presents a breakthrough concept of mourning, documenting the process of evolution from initial grief to an altered outlook on life. Excerpts from interviews with 50 parents who lost a child from five to forty-five trace the road from utter devastation to a revised view of life, resulting in a work that is a tribute to resilience and the indomitable human spirit.

Author Judith R. Bernstein, Ph.D., speaks from the dual perspectives of bereaved parent and psychologist. She weaves keen psychological insight with the voices of parents to achieve an intelligent volume that is at once heartbreaking and heartwarming. The wisdom of her science and her heart combine to result in a book that teaches the psychology of bereavement with profound tenderness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is a "how-to" book one hopes to the Almighty one will never need. When the Bough Breaks takes a serious and sensitive look at how to cope with the loss of a child. Can one ever recover from such a loss? The author seems convinced we do not, but offers ways to rebuild our lives and recover our hope and our ability to go on with our lives and not have the death of a child turn into the death of our own hearts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Bernstein argues that parents don't recover from the death of a child so much as they adapt to it, forever altering the way they think and act--often with negative consequences. To provide some understanding of this complex situation, she interviewed 55 parents whose children had died. This research, plus her own experiences (Bernstein's son died when he was 25), allows her to examine the various stages of grief, the mourning process, the effects on family and social relationships, and the emotional differences between facing a sudden death (such as a murder) and an anticipated death (such as a terminal illness). She also probes the different ways men and women tend to mourn. This can cause problems, especially when a husband's comparative reticence makes a wife believe that he's relatively unaffected by the death of their child. Compassionate and revealing, it should aid both mental-health professionals and parents dealing with this kind of devastating loss. Brian McCombie --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836252829
• ISBN-13: 978-0836252828
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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