The Other Side of Complicated Grief: Hope in the Midst of Despair

by Rhonda O'Neill

Finally, real help for grievers from a medical professional who has been there. One out of every ten grievers gets stuck in complicated grief. If you have complicated grief, you remain mired in the early, acute stages of grief indefinitely. CG affects your ability to move through grief in a healthy way and hinders your ability to function in everyday life. A Registered Nurse, Rhonda O’Neill was diagnosed with complicated grief after her husband and son died within two years of each other. She shares her struggle with CG for those years and shares how she found her way back to healthy grief and was finally able to live her life with some happiness again. It is not easy to understand the symptoms and implications of complicated grief. Here, the author uses her medical background to translate some confusing information on complicated grief into clear terms for the non-medical griever. The first section of the book is a memoir of the author’s blessings and losses. She describes her loving, blended family, her descent into the fog after her husband’s death, the issues she faced as the single mother of a dying son, and the love and regrets that assail a grieving mother. In section two, you will find easy-to-understand information to help you determine whether you are suffering with CG. And since the Western view on death seeks to make dying and grieving invisible, you will find real help about what you can expect and how you can care for yourself in your often lonely struggle. Finally, since grieving can awaken a yearning to understand the meaning of life and death, you will need some kind of spiritual path to help you cope, whether traditional or nontraditional. You will find ideas about how to begin the search for the answers you need.

169 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2016

Reviews

[Renae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely, positively the most useful, practical and beautiful book about grief I have read to date. This book, it's stories and recommendations, can be applied to all challenging life experiences, not just to the death of a loved one, but to any type of loss that you may grieve in life. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book. I use this for the foundation of the support group I facilitate, as well as my work with individuals and families. This book will add a new level of love and light to your life. Excellent read!

[Seka · Rating 5 out of 5]

O'Neill does an excellent job of covering additional topics beyond what I have read in some other books on this topic. I could relate to her examples and appreciated her wording when talking about difficult areas. Her chapter on spiritual evolution is sensitive to people coming from various backgrounds in their understanding of life after death. O'Neill does indeed give us hope.

[Beth Deanda Hudspeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have been perfect with just the first 2 parts. I know firsthand how important spirituality is in the grieving process, but the third part of this book just doesn’t seem to fit. It felt like a thinly veiled attempt at publicizing some psychic.

[Paula Day Johns · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was impressed with the beginning of the book. It was such a heartfelt tragedy; however; the writer lost my interest when she began the second half of the book. I just do not agree with her resources for grief.