Violent Deaths of Both Parents (IN: Helping Bereaved Children: a Handbook for Practitioners, edited by N B Webb Second Edition)

This chapter discusses the case of Marty, a two & a half-year old being protected by his grandparents from the fallout of having witnessed his father shoot his mother to death. His father was found in the locked bathroom, shot in the head by his own hand. The work of several practitioners & researchers provides a framework for understanding this case. Discusses the process of bereavement throughout the entire life span, the posttraumatic aftermath related to children who witness parental murder, the developmental consequences of loss as they relate to diagnosis & treatment, & how memories of terrifying events during the preschool years may manifest themselves in later years. (11 refs)