So how can doctors and hospice

personnel deal with patients' grief? The Society for Advancement

of Bereavement Management says the old ways are often the best: traditional

mourning rituals can help mourners feel grounded. In addition, they legitimize

emotional and physical expression and validate people's feelings, providing

a means of release that doesn't violate personal or cultural conditioning.

It is important that doctors

help families and older people in particular cope with and move past their

grief because many studies show that the bereaved are at higher risk for

increased morbidity and mortality following a loss. One service therapists

can provide is to help design rituals that are meaningful to them. This

can be an enormous gift doctors can give patients and their families.

To learn more, go to www.sabm-agr.com.

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