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

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Summary: A book to help you cope with the death of your child.
Review: 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.

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Summary: The Worst Loss - and it is....
Review: 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.

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Summary: must reading for medical professionals and families in grief
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: must reading for medical professionals and families in grief
Review: 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.

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Summary: The Worst Loss
Review: 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.

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Summary: A welcome comfort & help in my first months of deep sadness
Review: 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.

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Summary: The Worst Loss
Review: Our daughter, Jessica, was stillborn at full-term, having died from an umbilical cord hemorage 24 hours earlier. This book was one of 12 that I read immediately after her death. I found it to be horribly depressing and not much help at all. The stories of depression, etc., were not at all uplifting or giving of any hope that my pit of despair would ever improve. After reading this book, I cried out of absolute depression and felt that it would never improve---that 10 years in the future, I would still be hiding in my house, crying myself to sleep,etc. It was truly "The Worst" book on the death of a child.

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Summary: Understanding the many ramifications of the death of a child
Review: The loss of a child completely and permanently alters the lives of the child's parents and siblings. Barbara discusses the work of grief and its affect on the parents' relationship, the surviving children, and family life. Families who have experienced the death of a child through stillbirth, infant death, terminal illness, sudden death, murder or suicide share their stories. Each situation has a unique affect on the family and how they grieve for their child. This book can help the bereaved parents to recognize and understand their great loss.

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Summary: A good map to follow to understand your emotions.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A good map to follow to understand your emotions.
Review: 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.