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The lives of people born after the death of a sibling
Abstract
This study was undertaken to address the dearth of research literature devoted to the lives of people born after the death of a sibling. The literature in related areas, such as maternal grief, allows us to speculate that "subsequent children" will have difficulties associated with being born to grieving, and therefore depressed and preoccupied mothers, as well as difficulties related to feeling compared to their dead siblings. In this study fifteen subsequent children were asked to talk about their memories, thoughts, feelings, desires, and fantasies regarding themselves and others. Only a few of the participants were consciously aware of feeling compared to their dead siblings during their growing up years. However, most had difficulties around feeling evaluated in general, and many tended to think of themselves as failures, at least in the eyes of their parents. All had fantasized about their dead siblings, usually as being nurturers and protectors. Most reported feeling unnoticed and uncared for while they were growing up. They often suffered from depression, particularly during adolescence. Most had not developed a solid sense of their own identities and they often had difficulty forming intimate relationships. Few participants had talked about their thoughts and feelings regarding their dead siblings prior to being interviewed. The importance of giving voice to the thoughts, feelings, and fantasies of these subsequent children is discussed, as are possible interventions in their lives. Issues that may arise in psychotherapy with subsequent children also are addressed.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology
Recommended Citation
Boltas, Debra, "The lives of people born after the death of a sibling" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329574.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329574