Man Saddened that Friends Can't Share His Grief

The British novelist Julian Barnes tried to capture the loneliness of what he calls "grief-work." After thirty years of marriage, his wife Pat ...

Is Grief a Form of Mental Illness?

The New York Times ran a moving article about a professor whose son died from a drug overdose. There's a lot to mull over in this article, including ...

Father Explains Death to His Son

In the fall of 1991, a car driven by a drunk driver jumped its lane and smashed headfirst into a minivan driven by Jerry Sittser. Sittser and three of ...

Children's Book Character Carries His "Sadness Shield"

We all seem to need a strategy for coping with the experience of grief. In the screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where ...

Every Person Has Experienced Heartache

I don't think any of us get off this planet without suffering enormously. And one of the chief ways we suffer is by loving people who are incredibly ...

The Shortest Complete Story Reveals Life's Brokenness

[This] is often called the shortest complete story in English, supposedly written by Ernest Hemingway. It is only six words long:

"For sale: baby ...

Doctors Identify "Broken Heart Syndrome"

In many fictional tales, characters die after suffering a devastating loss. The Bible often refers to the anguish of the "broken-hearted." But ...

Jewish 'Shiva' Practice Helps Loved Ones Grieve

After witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of civil war, oppressive regimes, and natural disasters, Palmer Chichen has observed that the Hebrew ...

Finding God's Providence in the Wake of a Grandchild's Death

In Dennis Rainey's book Stepping Up, he tells the story about the short life of his granddaughter Molly. Born with a brain aneurism, Molly lived only ...

Psychologist Blames Unhappiness on Uncertainty

Daniel Gilbert (a psychology professor at Harvard) drew from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and stated that the Index showed "that Americans ...