A Journey through Grief: An Analysis of an Adult Child's Grief in the Loss of a Mother

Abstract

The purposes of this article are (1) to analyze the loss of the author's mother to determine and understand its effect on the present life of the bereaved and (2) to enable professional helpers to understand and develop therapeutic strategies for helping bereaved individuals. The author gives an account of a personal experience of grief of an adult child who experienced the accidental death of her mother in an automobile crash. This grief experience is complicated by the family relationship of the driver of the vehicle to the adult griever. Two basic issues are examined: the grief of the adult child and the struggle to forgive the driver. Primary data are the personal reflections of the presenter, and secondary data are references related to the grief experience of parental loss, particularly the impact of the loss of the mother on the adult child. The current status of this journey in grief is evaluated. Positive outcomes from this painful experience are shared, and tentative conclusions about the experience six years after the loss are presented.