Recent Stories
Dear Dr. Neimeyer, My husband has been gone a year now. I went gambling to blot everything out or get away from home, but now my nephew and oldest son say I need help. Although I have started to quit the vice, I don’t want to pay for professional help. I think I am being […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, I am married to a man more than a dozen years older than I am, and through most of our four decades together he has been the strong one who has taken care of most things. Over the last decade he has had many surgeries. He has many different things wrong, but […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, My partner committed suicide in front of me last February. He asked me to hold his hand. I always promised I’d be there for him, regardless. But this was something I couldn’t imagine. Because we lived in the South, and his family in the Northeast, we were on our own. I called […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, I’ve been a fan of AfterTalk and your column for sometime. 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 am I writing to? […]
Continue ReadingDear. Dr. Neimeyer– I’m a grief therapist who works frequently with clients who have had difficult losses–sometimes of life partners, sometimes of parents, sometimes of children. And I’ve been fascinated by AfterTalk ever since I encountered it, as many of my clients are eager to restore a sense of connection and communication with those they […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, As a counselor myself, I was interested to read recently that the majority of people who experience a significant loss react with a surprising degree of resilience, to the extent that the grief process can, in the longer term, be a positive experience for them. This tends to counter a prevailing, if […]
Continue ReadingEditor’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 […]
Continue ReadingDr. 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 […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr, Neimeyer, It’s been around two years now since I lost my husband and my dad a few weeks apart. The grief is still so debilitating I can hardly get up in the morning. I see a therapist but it doesn’t feel like it’s helping very much. I attempted to take my life earlier […]
Continue ReadingDear Dr. Neimeyer, My ex-husband and I were married for 25 years, together 28. We raised four children together. He was charming, sociable, affectionate, intelligent and silly. We enjoyed numerous good times. Toward the end, however, he became abusive and I made excuses to stay. After he took out his anger on one of the […]
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