ABSTRACT
Loss never occurs in a vacuum but rather is shared by variously interconnected people, whose most common constellation is the family (Kissane & Bloch, 1994). The quality of relationships involved therein proves determinative of the pattern of adaptation to loss (Kissane, Bloch, Dowe, et al., 1996; Kissane, Bloch, Onghena, et al., 1996), whether through mutual support and shared grief that steadily heals, or through distortion and perpetuation of that relational functioning, which, in turn, exacerbates the intensity and length of mourning. Family therapy has usefully complemented individual and group approaches to bereavement care (Kissane, McKenzie, Bloch, Moskowitz, McKenzie, & o’Neill, 2006). Might we entertain boldly the hope that family therapy initiated during palliative care could prevent the development of complicated grief? Such a prophylactic approach through a model of family-centered care is exactly what we have been studying, and we explore it in this chapter located within the section on therapeutic approaches to complicated grief.
