Clinics in perinatology
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Clinics in perinatology · Dec 1989
ReviewParental adjustment to intrapartum and delivery room loss. The role of a hospital-based support program.
Perinatal loss prompts a unique bereavement for parents and their families that is unlike the mourning process experienced at the death of other loved ones. The Support Center For Perinatal and Childhood Death has developed a comprehensive program to provide support, counseling, and information to families who experience miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal anomalies, and therapeutic abortion for genetic or congenital abnormalities. The impact of perinatal loss is felt not only in the real loss of the wished-for child but also in the loss of self-esteem, the role of parent, and the loss of confidence in the ability to produce a healthy child. ⋯ Stein expresses the essence of grief work and resolve: Mourning is not just feeling sad. It is the specific psychological process by which human beings become able to give up some of the feelings they have invested in a person who no longer exists, and extend their love to the living. Mourning is hard, emotional work.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)