Recent Stories

Complicated and consuming grief of a friend

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | January 15, 2024 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer I have read and appreciate your work about meaning reconstruction in loss. I have a friend whose grief is so complicated and consuming that she can’t find life for herself (her husband died from cancer about six years ago) and she can’t seem to move forward at all. Here is an excerpt […]

Continue Reading

Response to Dr. Neimeyer’s Meaning of Life Post

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | January 8, 2024 | 0 Comments

Editor’s Note: this is an eloquent response to Dr. Neimeyer’s recent post “What is the Meaning of Life? Goodbye to 2023″ which can be found here: What is the Meaning of Life? Goodbye to 2023 Dear Dr. Neimeyer, For many seasons have you offered support, real support to those of us who have lost loved […]

Continue Reading

Anticipatory grief, when a loved one is dying

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | January 2, 2024 | 1 Comment

Dealing with Anticipatory Grief Dear Dr. Neimeyer, My question is about anticipatory grief, the distress that family members can feel when a loved one is receiving end-of-life care. I work in a palliative care unit of a large hospital, and we often have families who are overwhelmed with the reality of the patient’s impending death, […]

Continue Reading

What is the Meaning of Life? Goodbye to 2023

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | December 26, 2023 | 1 Comment

What is the Meaning of Life? We repost this classic Dr. Neimeyer piece as every new year approaches. –The Editors Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I have just one question, but it is a big one. In your opinion, what is the meaning of life?–Nicolae Dear Nicolae, I’m a practicing psychologist who works alongside people who are […]

Continue Reading

Five Principles for Managing Grief in the New Year

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | December 18, 2023 | 4 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer– My husband died just over a year ago, so on January 1st I will start my second year without him, and I am not looking forward to it.  It’s not that I am immobilized by grief, as I have gotten better across the months in that department, and actually feel pretty good […]

Continue Reading

Does Continuing Bonds Therapy Really Work?

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | December 11, 2023 | 1 Comment

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, A good deal of my practice with grieving clients is influenced by your work and that of your colleagues like Dennis Klass on the idea of continuing bonds–the concept that bereaved people really are striving to maintain their attachment to deceased loved ones who have died rather than “let go,” “withdraw energy […]

Continue Reading

A Grief and the Holidays Compendium

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | December 4, 2023 | 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: This week we are printing a compendium of comments to recent Ask Dr. Neimeyer posts focusing on grief and the holidays. Hi..please help me to overcome the blame of my mom’s death, I lost my mom last summer. She had a heart complications (angina) and also arthritis, me and my sisters we took […]

Continue Reading

The Roller Coaster of Grief

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 27, 2023 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer. Today marks eight months since I lost my husband. He was only 46 years old. I still am having a difficult time realizing he is not coming back. The first few months after he was gone, I had to leave work every single day at lunch to cry in my car and […]

Continue Reading

Dr. Neimeyer’s Statement about the current Middle East Crisis

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 20, 2023 | 1 Comment

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been corresponding with friends and colleagues in Israel in the wake of the horrific attack on civilians on the part of Hamas, as well as talking for long hours with Muslim friends and colleagues who are following the resulting war with great concern. Tragically, we witnessed what a pogrom […]

Continue Reading

A Son’s Suicide and the Holiday Season Grieving Part III

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 6, 2023 | 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: with many approaching the holidays  with a loss recently behind them, and their grief overlaid with the despair of these times, we thought this Dr. Neimeyer column might be helpful–LL Dear Dr. Neimeyer,      My 18 year old son hung himself in a tree in June. Since that day my life is […]

Continue Reading
Scroll to Top