ABSTRACT
The recent conuence of the trauma and grief literature is rening our understanding of what can happen when death and loss occur by traumatic means. Most of the emphasis of research and scholarly writing continues to focus on the process of individuals after exposure to a traumatic event or death. In this chapter, we wish to further the dialogue regarding grief and trauma by expanding the way that trauma is dened and widening the scope from the more mainstream orientation of the individual perspective to the shared experience of the family system. We will begin by exploring the dening features of traumatic losses and briey discuss three types of complicated grief in families; traumatic grief, prolonged grief and posthumous disillusionment. We will review the literature that has been written on the topic of traumatic loss within the family context, and describe some of the therapeutic considerations for working with families where traumatic losses of various types have occurred.
