Posts Tagged ‘posttraumatic stress disorder’

Grief after suicide is always complex. In addition to the characteristics found with other types of loss, suicide loss carries an additional set of burdens. In my experience, the grief that survivors experience is more complicated, more difficult, and more intense than the grief of clients coping with other types of loss. The consequences for those left behind are far-reaching and profound.

I’d like to share some insights I’ve gleaned in my work with suicide survivors. By understanding some of the unique characteristics of this devastating event, you can be better prepared to support a survivor as they struggle with the aftermath of a loved one’s suicide.

Discovering or Witnessing the Death

Question by Marciea: Why would my husband say he doesn’t love me anymore just to get me into counseling?
My husband has PTSD; he went to afghanistan 6 years ago and experienced a lot. It took me 4 years of dealing with his anger to convince him into counseling with the VA. Now, after two years of hits and misses with his appts. he tells me this:

I dont love you or anyone. two days later, “I told you I don;t love you”, now today, its “I love you and I only said that to get you into counseling”, which I said if he needed me to I wouldnt resist.

So this sounds to me like he really doesnt love me anymore, why would he say it if he didnt mean it and more then once? I told him I was confused about this and he said I was confused because I need counseling. Whats the deal?

by US Army Africa

If you are thinking of establishing your career in the field of psychology than among the different options that will allow you to explore your opportunities and learn new things every day is a trauma counseling degree. In this career, a professional has to implement mental-health programs through working with different people to help them find a solution for their problems via a series of the traditional and institutional techniques.

There are different schools that allow you to earn a trauma counseling psychology degree. After getting your degree you will need to get a license to perform research on different therapeutic models and methods and work as a private psychologist / counselor.

My daughter is a licensed family therapist. One day she sent me an email, asking if I was familiar with ambiguous loss. Though I’ve studied grief for years and written six grief resources, I wasn’t familiar with the term. Now I know more about it.

This loss is one without closure. There is no body or death certificate, for one thing. All of the families associated with September 11th have suffered ambiguous loss. You may be experiencing this loss if a parent has Alzheimer’s, a sibling has chronic mental illness, a runaway child has never been found, or a military spouse is missing in Afghanistan.

The term was coined by Pauline Boss, PhD, of the University of Minnesota. It came from her research and the clinical studies she has been conducting since 1974. Dr. Boss retired from the U of M and is currently a therapist in private practice. She thinks this type of loss is the most devastating of all “because it remains unclear, indeterminate.” Boss goes on to explain the power of this loss in her book, Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief.