Chances are good that you’ll outlive your parents. It’s a rite of passage for most adults. While young children and adolescents who lose one or both of their parents are expected to need psychological help, far less attention is given to adults in that situation. They’re referred to as midlife orphans and orphaned adults. It’s often assumed that adults are equipped to handle the deaths of their parents with ease, but that assumption is often untrue.
At the office of Hackensack, each patient is treated with respect, dignity and compassion. We understand all of the emotional responses that an adult who is grieving the loss of one or both parents can experience. Using our wide scope of knowledge, we’ll help you work through your emotions and set you on your way to coming to terms with your reactions.
The assumption that your parents will “go first” doesn’t dampen the pain, soul-searching and feeling of being without a rudder. Many adults feel a deep emptiness; they know that their constant backup has disappeared. They say to themselves, “The only people who loved me unconditionally are gone.” Even people who had difficult relationships with one or both parents feel distress.
Parents are unique in that they physically created us and had the most memories of us as children. Their deaths bring up feelings of loneliness (and, if any, unresolved conflicts), especially for adults who had no siblings. The death of your second parent can also reactivate your trauma from the death of your first.
If you have siblings, your parents might have been the only or one of the few things that held together your relationships with them. If so, the sudden void might “unglue” that togetherness. The death of both parents also ends your nuclear family—the family you grew up in—which can be dramatically unsettling.
If you’re looking for a compassionate therapist who has a strong interest in your issues as an adult orphan, look to the office of Hackensack. You will be cared for with compassion and empathy, and given the utmost attention. Please call our office to make an appointmen
