Recent Stories
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I have a friend who recently had a tragic loss, but I find myself uncertain about what to say to her. I don’t want to intrude. What is the best thing to say to someone who is bereaved? Laurie Dear Laurie, In Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path describes the attitudes and behaviors […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, I’d like to ask him if some way people that pass ever come back, or when their body leaves but does the spirit stay? My only son died in May, and last night I heard him call me and I answered. Sandy Dear Sandy– Throughout recorded history and across a great many […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, I’ve been a fan of AfterTalk and your column for some time. I have used “Private Conversations” to talk with my deceased father for years. My mother died two weeks ago. I am starting to gel my “Conversations” to my mother in my head. Here’s the rub, and the challenge: Which Mother […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, I am a marriage and family therapist with a 55 year old female client who is the only surviving member of her family Her mother died suddenly and unexpectedly last year and she’s given up all her many interests. She is full of anxiety and fear–seems agoraphobic–having panic attacks and hot flashes […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, The grief journey never goes away. I lost my dad when I was 14, and my best friend when I was in my late 30s. Four years later another friend. My mom passed 15 years ago, and another close friend two years later. I just lost two friends in the past two months. […]
Continue ReadingListening to the bereaved—really listening—brings into sharp focus two things: their pain and their questions. In Living Beyond Loss: Questions and Answers about Grief and Bereavement, noted psychologist Robert Neimeyer compassionately engages the heartfelt inquiries of real bereaved people who have lost parents and partners, siblings and children, to illness, tragic accident, suicide […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr Neimeyer, I am in a state of parental distress, anticipatory grief, and I’m not sure what to do. I’m 68 and my eldest son (whom I’ll call “Tom”—not his real name) is now 38. The bottom line is this: Tom has a drug habit that is killing him, and I am experiencing anticipatory […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, My 17 year old son took his own life not even a month ago. I find I can’t even type the details. He used a shotgun in our basement. Our whole family found him shortly afterwards. I recently read about “atypical depression” which very well described Edward’s condition. He was doing well. […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, As a counselor with a good deal of experience in working with grief, I have been hired to present at a senior retirement community in my city. The audience will be potential patrons who are looking to move their widowed parents from their homes into a facility. The topic of the presentation […]
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