The impact of bereavement on children and adolescents

Mourning is often that of an entire family. Before we can help a grieving child or teenager, then, we need to develop the issue of death and bereavement in our modern cultures. Yet the literacy of death and bereavement is in its infancy, having previously been non-existent. In the past, we didn't take any precautions with young people; they simply went with the flow and adapted to life's crises. Yet the loss of a loved one has multiple consequences in the life of a child or teenager, all the more so when the young person's parents are themselves in mourning, ignoring or denying the phenomenon. The emotional aspects of parental grief form a filter that prevents the process from becoming integrated. A pedagogy of death and mourning would prepare the ground for the break in the bond and limit the consequences of grief. All the more so as the developing child needs to hear the story of his or her family break-ups many times, and differently according to age.

Marie-Frédérique Bacqué is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, professor of clinical psychopathology at the University of Strasbourg and president of the International Center for the Study of Death. She is invested in the study and psychotherapy of people confronted with loss, death and bereavement.

For more information:
http://www.hepl.ch/accueil/actualites-et-agenda/actu-hep/conference-con…
Link to follow the conference live and online