ABSTRACT

Professional mental health literature is replete with theoretical formulations and clinical descriptions of the impact of parent or sibling death on children and the occurrence of anniversary-related adult emotional and physical disorders. This chapter explores children’s anniversary reactions-psychological, physical, and/or behavioral responses occurring at a time of special significance related to the death of a family member. It explores the associated literature review have generated rich clinical data and highlighted theoretical complexities about children’s anniversary reactions to the death of a family member. The chapter describes anniversary reactions to the death of a family member in a broad but small sample. Several questions were designed to identify experiences that were meaningful for the child at the actual time of the family member’s death. The relationship between anniversaries of parent or sibling death and adult psychiatric symptoms is reported in a number of retrospective studies.