Letter to a genetic counselor

The author describes her personal experience terminating a pregnancy after receiving an abnormal amniocentesis result: While still waiting for the results, she and her husband attempted to deny the importance of the pregnancy, an approach which they subsequently regretted. When they received the abnormal result, they found themselves able to make necessary decisions quickly, despite being in shock. It then took some time before they realized what a major loss they had actually suffered. The painful aftermath included accepting emotional responsibility for their decision to abort, as well as explaining that difficult decision to their older children. Thoughts of a possible subsequent pregnancy could not be faced at once. Over time, the author found the support of friends and colleagues, and even of a support group, to be invaluable. All in all, the entire experience was more painful than she would have predicted, and she hopes that this account will prove helpful both to genetic counselors and to other patients who receive abnormal results from prenatal diagnosis. A list of suggested readings is appended.Rose Green is a pseudonym.     

Spouse Bereavement Processes of Holocaust Child Survivors: Can One Differentiate a Black Frame from a Black Background?

This article highlights the relation between the mourning processes of Holocaust war orphans and their expected bereavement processes in later life when a spouse dies. The relation between the two processes is explored through a clinical case study. In addition, we define the concept of subtle mourning as an adjustment in the bereavement process. We assume that orphans, who survive after genocide, suffer a lifelong sense of bereavement. They create a subtle mourning process which can be disclosed much later in their lives when they must cope with the death of a spouse.     

Neuroticism and attachment insecurity as predictors of bereavement outcome

Adult attachment dimensions as well as the personality trait neuroticism have been shown to be related to psychological adjustment after bereavement. No investigations so far have studied the relative contribution of these constructs to grief and depression. In our study of 219 bereaved parents, the two adult attachment dimensions, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, were compared to the personality trait neuroticism in predicting psychological adjustment. The attachment dimensions explained a unique part over and above neuroticism, but contrary to expectations, neuroticism explained more variance than attachment dimensions. Implications are discussed.