The aging of grief in Israel: A perspective of bereaved parents

This article focuses on long-term grief of older bereaved parents within th e context of the Israeli society. The themes that emerged in a group discus sion with 29 elderly bereaved parents whose sons were killed during militar y service support previous findings that the passage of time has no diminis hing effect on parents' grief on relinquishing attachment to the deceased. Aging appears to increase internalized involvement with the long-lost child , fears of fading memories, and the need to eternalize the deceased. In rev iewing the past, parents reevaluate their coping with the loss and their re lationship with the surviving children. lire strong attachment seems to con tinue in external and inner representations of the lost child. In Israel, t his preoccupation is enhanced dire to socieiy's attitude to dead soldiers, creating thereby an interface between society and bereaved families The aut hors conclude that grid is a central theme in aging patents, and the term " aging of grief" is suggested to describe the course that grief and its many aspects map take with the passage of time.