Recent Stories

My husband passed away…

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | December 3, 2018 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, My husband passed away in five years ago. It was right before our oldest son graduated from high school and our youngest son was eight. My oldest son graduated  with a degree in electrical engineering last year. My oldest son, I believe bottled up everything; he won’t even talk to me or his […]

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Grieving and the Holidays

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 26, 2018 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, My husband Don died 9 months ago after a rapid decline; and his lungs basically stopped working, even with oxygen treatments.  His death has been hard for us as a family in many ways, as he lived only about 6 months after getting the diagnosis, and we are now facing the first Christmas […]

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Suicide of a Son and Complicated Grief x

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 19, 2018 | 1 Comment

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 […]

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After sudden death of a husband; finding meaning in life

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 12, 2018 | 145 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, Six months ago my partner of 47 years died suddenly. We have no children and have always been very close and spent a lot of time together. This would have been our first real year of retirement together and we were looking forward to growing old together, just enjoying our free time and everyday things.  Now he’s gone I can […]

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Alzheimer’s Loss: fixating on the present

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | November 5, 2018 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I am providing emotional support to the family of an advanced Alzheimer’s patient who has been institutionalized for 5 years. The patient was a brilliant scientist, greatly loved and admired by his sister and three daughters. As the scientist approaches death, his sister and daughters are troubled by the fact that their thoughts […]

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“My son took his own life…” x

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | October 29, 2018 | 15 Comments

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. […]

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Do I have PTSD?

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | October 22, 2018 | 1 Comment

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 […]

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Coping with multiple losses

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | October 15, 2018 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, Why is it so hard? I lost my sister in the spring of 2013, then my husband a month later, then my son two months later 2013. It’s been a losing battle I just don’t know how to handle this. Paulette Dear Paulette, When a person has a litany of losses in […]

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Guilt and a Mother’s Passing

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | October 9, 2018 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I didn’t want to post this because I don’t want my loved ones to know the guilt I feel about my mother’s passing. But before my mom passed last year I avoided her calls as my sister said she was drinking a lot. We lived in different states. And she was drunk […]

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Tragic Death of a Loved One–finding meaning

By Dr. Robert Neimeyer | October 1, 2018 | 0 Comments

Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I have read and heard you speak about the need to revisit and retell the story of the tragic death of a loved one in order to find meaning in the event.  What stands out in your comments is obvious, but should be underlined, in my view:   the profound Truth about the need […]

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