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Mental Health Mental Health Basics

Grieving and Going Back to Work

Summary & Participants

As adults, we all comprehend the fact that our parents will die eventually. But the reality of that event often has much more emotional impact than we can foresee. Join our panel of experts for a look at what happens when you become an "adult orphan."

Medically Reviewed On: July 03, 2008

Webcast Transcript

LISA CLARK: Welcome, and thank you for joining us for this webcast. I'm Lisa Clark.

As adults, we all comprehend the fact that someday our parents will die. But the reality of that event has much more emotional impact than we can often foresee. Even when our parents are advanced in age or have dealt with a long illness, it is hard to be prepared for the ramifications of such a loss, but they can be profound. For the next few minutes we'll take a look at the phenomenon of the adult orphan, and what the loss of your parent means, even when you are grown.

Joining us for this discussion is Benyamin Cirlin. Welcome. He is a clinical social worker and the executive director for the Center for Loss and Renewal in New York City. He's also the coordinator of bereavement services at Jacob Perlo Hospice of the Beth Israel Medical Center. Thanks for being here.

Also joining us is Patty Donovan-Duff. She is a registered nurse, and she is the director of the Bereavement Center of Westchester. Patty, you've also done a lot of hospice work.

Patty, one of the hardest things you might have to deal with is a lack of acknowledgment about how big a loss this is. But people who are around you -- coworkers, friends -- might say, "Wow! 80 years old. What a great life." Or, "Gee, you must be so relieved. They were suffering so much." How hard is that for the person who has suffered the loss to hear and to deal with?

PATTY DONOVAN-DUFF, RN: It's very difficult. I think in our society these days, also, people get three days off after a loss of a parent. They are expected to return to work pretty quickly afterwards. There's probably a period of time where there is that condolence period, but very quickly they are expected to be performing as usual with their concentration being right on and being the same person as they were before. That doesn't happen. You change.

LISA CLARK: And having to deflect the kind of inane comments that people often make, how do you equip people to deal with hearing the sorts of things that aren't helpful?

PATTY DONOVAN-DUFF, RN: Sometimes you have to help them rehearse those responses. We do that with children, as well. What would you say, because this comes up in groups a lot. What's a good answer? Really, what people need during that time is to remember, not to hear, "It's going to be okay and you're going to move on." But it may be an opportunity to remember the person who died, to talk about the person who died to somebody. That remembering is a very important piece.

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