ABSTRACT
There is widespread agreement that the death of a child is one of the most difficult losses that individuals experience. Osterweis, Solomon, and Green (1984) write that any bereavement is painful, but that the experience of losing a child is by far the worst. Supporting this same position is Sanders (1989), who concludes that the death of a child is an “unbearable sorrow,” a wound that “cuts deeply, ulcerates, and festers. Scar tissue is slow to form. For some it never heals.” The amputation metaphor is sometimes used to describe the loss of a child as much like the amputation of a limb (Klass, 1988). If the limb that is lost is a leg, the individual learns to walk again, but the healed stump is always there as a reminder.
