Customer Reviews

The Worst Loss: How Families Heal from the Death of a Child

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read countless numbers of books about the loss of a child.Many of them become repetitious. The books written by grieving parents are often a catharsis and helpful to them, but are not necessarily guides for others.
This book is a combination of careful research and parent stories. It is honest and hopeful.
It is one of the few books which talks in depth about siblings and how a family can become dysfuntional and gently offers advice.
This - and the book, A Broken Heart Still Beats - if you are literary - are the two books which helped me the most, and I would recommend them highly.
The Worst Loss is the book which I pass on to parents and families new to their grief and I am careful in my choice because those of us who have lost children know how vunerable we were.
It's a five star.

I read this wonderful treatise in the face of a loss of a beloved nephew. As an Emergency Physician who occasionally encounters death of children, I will recommend (indeed I'll buy the book) for families grieving the loss of a child. It has helped me understand the varied emotions and coping mechanisms that accompany these tragedies. I have read several books dealing with the same topic and this is, on any basis of comparison, the best.

My son died in a dirt bike accident 3 months ago and I am still finding it hard to breathe let alone read. I loved this book. Barbara's chapter on what it's like to lose a sibling helped me to know how to be as present as possible for my other children so they didn't feel like they had lost a mother too. We read the chapter on sibling loss together and individually. The small comforts that I found (when there seems to be no comfort at all)were knowing that others had hurt as deeply and acutely as I and had made it through because the book not only shares others stories of grief but has helpful guides in how to walk through this lonely process knowing that you are not alone.

As a bereaved parent I have read dozens of books on the subject over the past ten years. This is the best all-around book I have found! The effects of losing a child on a mother, a father, siblings, the marriage relationship, etc. are covered concisely with great sensitivity and insight from the author's broad experience working with bereaved families. It is a book that can be read immediately following the death and then periodically as one moves through the long and excruciating grief process.

The Worst Loss helped my husband and I when we lost our 26 year old son, who died at home from a kidney infection. My husband and I performed CPR before EMS arrived. I started reading this book the month after Dyron's death. It helped me to understand why I was having the feelings I was having. It made me feel better to know that I wasn't losing my mind, for I could remember nothing and was terribly disorganized. This book gave me an anchor.
It also points out to parents to be aware of the children who have survived. It was truly the only book I needed to read out of the ten I bought.
I still have not read the last chapter. I have tried often, but I cry and cannot turn the page. I know I will read it when it is time.

I bought this book right after my daughter was killed in an auto accident. It helped me to understand the feelings I was experiencing. It also helped me deal with physical signs of grief as well as the mental stresses. I would recommend this book be read during the first 6 mths. after the death of a child because it deals greatly with the things that will occur in that first year of grieving.

I work with pediatric oncology patients and their families and came across this book. I have recommended it to many many people,parents who have lost children as well as professionals. The overwhelming response is positive, that this is possibly one of the best books on the subject. However, this is not a book to give a newly bereaved parent/family. Some of the book can be too realistic at first. From the perspective of someone who works with bereaved parents and siblings this book is an excellent guide

The Worst Loss is written in clear language. It uses the words & stories of real people in many different situations, who share this loss. It helps give better parameters about the grieving & mourning that happens around this loss. I read it first just for myself, to better know what is going on with dear friends who have lost a child. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand, or who must survive, the loss of a child.

My mother and son were killed in an automobile accident in June of 2000. Since that time, I have read over a dozen books on grieving. Most of the books I have read on coping with the death of a child were written by parents who had lost a child themselves. The author of this book has not suffered the loss of a child herself, but it is very evident that she has counseled many who have. This book is well worth reading, and I recommend it highly.

I lost my beloved son four months ago in a motorcycle accident. He was 24 years old. I have read 7 different grief books written for bereaved parents. This book, The Worst Loss, is by far the best I have read. It is so hopeful, and describes very gently what grief is like for parents. I saw myself in the pages, over and over, and it was the most comforting book I have encountered. The book is well organized, taking you through the stages of grief and along the way, it describes what other parents have gone through and what they have found helpful to help themselves move through their grief. It also stresses that we each have our own timetable for grief and to not rush yourself, nor let anyone rush you through your grief.

Out of the all the grief books I've read, this book, and A Broken Heart Still Beats, are the only books I'm going to keep, as a reference, or to read again. A Broken Heart Still Beats is comforting in a different way, it is not a guide for grief like The Worst Loss, it is a compilation of literary writings on loss of children and it is beautiful.