Dear Dr. Neimeyer, How do I forgive the person who dumped my first-born son unconscious out of his car and left him to die? I lost my son almost three years ago; someone left him unconscious and he died in an empty parking lot alone. He was an organ donor and saved five different lives.
Category Archives: Death of A Child
Anticipatory Grieving and Parents: somatic symptom disorders
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I’m a physician and psychiatrist, and I have a question for you given your decades of work in both the theory and clinical practice around grief/bereavement. I am trained as a pediatrician, and also as an adult + child/adolescent psychiatrist. I now work as a psychiatrist, embedded with the pediatric palliative care
Suicide of a Son and Complicated Grief x
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I lost my son Charles a few months ago to suicide. Charles lost both his babies 4 years ago. Their first baby was a miscarriage and the second was born with a rare cancer and only survived two and a half months but lost his battle and passed on. This broke my son and the 4 years after
“My son took his own life…” x
Dear 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.
Do I have PTSD?
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I have a question please. I lost my sixteen year old son in an accident only fifteen months ago. I can hardly walk through this house of memories, so I stay isolated in one room. I do not want to be bothered. My mom lives here and has taken over for a
I Lost My Son to Suicide…
[Editor: Today is World Suicide Prevention Day] Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I lost my oldest son nearly 8 years ago to suicide at the age of 24. He shot himself in our home. Friends and people from church were very kind to us after it happened. We have three other sons. They are all grown now, but one
I lost my daughter…
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I lost my daughter, a 12-year-old, Melissa three weeks ago today. Earlier this summer she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder but was in good health—at least we thought. But when she got her first treatment, within a week she was in the CVICU and then we had to make the
Anticipatory Grief: my daughter’s fate
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, If you have been experiencing anticipatory grief for a loved one, once they die do you still experience normal grief? Or is it all combined within the anticipatory? I have a daughter who is a medical guinea pig, and as far as we can tell she is the oldest surviving person in
Over My Son’s Death?: An Ask Dr. Neimeyer Guest Column
Editor’s Note: This week is a departure. The following was written by Mary Jane Hurley Brant, M.S., CGP in response to last week’s post about a mother angry that she is frequently asked if she is “over” her son’s death You can read the question and Dr. Neimeyer’s reply at this link: CLICK HERE. Mary Jane is
Over my Son’s Death?
Dr. Neimeyer, I stay so angry at people that expect me to be over my son’s death eight years ago. What can I say to them? They act like I have failed or just want attention. I hurt terribly. Bette Dear Bette– No doubt it is hard, if not impossible, for someone who has not