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

by Barbara D. Rosof (Author) "Patrick was fifteen, and he savored every moment of his summer..." (more)
Key Phrases: bright canopy, replacement child, children grieve, Compassionate Friends, New York, Parents of Murdered Children (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Each week some 1900 American families are faced with the death of a child-allegedly the most harrowing of losses. Research shows that the grief of parents lasts longer and is more intense than any other. Here, Rosof, a California psychotherapist who works with bereaved families, offers compassionate advice to help parents cope. After describing the many ways children (including adult children) die, she explains why grieving is crucial to recovery, how the partners' relationship may be affected and the ways surviving siblings grieve. She also shows parents how to break down psychological barriers that hinder necessary grief work and prevent full recovery. In perhaps the most enlightening-as well as painful-part, families tell of their children's deaths and their aftermath. Included is a list of national organizations that support bereaved parents. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Rosof, a child psychotherapist who has worked for many years with families who have lost children, offers a clear, sympathetic, no-nonsense guide to surviving "a loss like no other." Using effective anecdotes from her practice, she explains why grieving is necessary, the stages of grief parents and sibling will likely go through, possible barriers to grieving, and learning to let go and create a new life. Throughout, she stresses that parents will never be the same as they were before their child's death. Rosof wisely deals with specifics such as coping with the death of a newborn or death from illness, murder, suicide, and accidents, though inevitably there is some ground she cannot cover, e.g., a stepparent's grief and the loss of an adult child or sibling. Nevertheless, parents mourning the loss of a child will find that Rosof's many insights ring true. An excellent primer that belongs in most public libraries.
Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (October 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080503241X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805032413
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,465 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Worst Loss - and it is...., June 18, 2003

By	"emacaroni" (lake ariel, pa United States) - See all my reviews

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.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome comfort & help in my first months of deep sadness, January 19, 2002

By	Graydon J. Briggs, D.D.S. (Bicknell, UT United States) - See all my reviews

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.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must reading for medical professionals and families in grief, January 16, 2001

By	Gordon Leingang (Bismarck, ND United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.