When The Bough Breaks: Forever After the Death of a Son or Daughter

"For every parent who loses a child, when one life ends another life is forever changed."--from When the Bough Breaks

When the Bough Breaks presents a breakthrough concept of mourning, documenting the process of evolution from initial grief to an altered outlook on life. Excerpts from interviews with 50 parents who lost a child from five to forty-five trace the road from utter devastation to a revised view of life, resulting in a work that is a tribute to resilience and the indomitable human spirit. 

Author Judith R. Bernstein, Ph.D., speaks from the dual perspectives of bereaved parent and psychologist. She weaves keen psychological insight with the voices of parents to achieve an intelligent volume that is at once heartbreaking and heartwarming. The wisdom of her science and her heart combine to result in a book that teaches the psychology of bereavement with profound tenderness.

This is a "how-to" book one hopes to the Almighty one will never need. When the Bough Breaks takes a serious and sensitive look at how to cope with the loss of a child. Can one ever recover from such a loss? The author seems convinced we do not, but offers ways to rebuild our lives and recover our hope and our ability to go on with our lives and not have the death of a child turn into the death of our own hearts.