Children in Anticipatory Grief: The Lonely Predicament

The present study focused on anxiety and maladaptive grief reactions among children of terminally ill parents. Two major questions were: To what extent is the anxiety of children who stand to lose a parent related to the anxiety of their parents, ill and healthy? To what extent are the maladaptive reactions of children in anticipatory grief perceived by their parents? The sample consisted of 45 children from 16 families in which one parent was a cancer patient. An "anxiety coalition" between children and the healthy parent was found to distinguish families in which the ill parent volunteered for family-centered counseling from families in which both parents refused such help. Clinical implications related to emotional isolation of children of the terminally ill and to their needs for psychological help are discussed.