Continuing Bonds in the Body: Body Memory and Experiencing the Loss of a Caregiver During Adolescence

Continuing Bonds With Children and Bereaved Young People: A Narrative Review

“…Based upon the findings from the study, the authors suggest that "sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, individually or collectively, can act as a bridge in the continuity of relationships" (p. 289). Such findings were similarly reinforced in a small-scale American study with three bereaved young people (Simpkins & Myers-Coffman, 2017). It was specifically identified that memories were commonly evoked through unintentional exposure to special songs that reminded the bereaved young person of the deceased.…”

“…The experience of bereaved young people having unintended connections with the deceased was described in ten articles (Normand, Silverman & Nickman, 1996;Field, Gao & Paderna, 2005;Packman, Horsely, Davies & Kramer, 2006;Brewer & Sparkes, 2011;Foster et al, 2011;Wood, Byram, Gosling & Stokes, 2012;Root & Exline, 2014;Hansen, Sheehan, Stephenson & Mayo, 2015;Irwin, 2015;Simpkins & Myers-Coffman, 2017). This is the idea that bereaved young people often feel a sense of connection with the deceased, through natural and spontaneous occurrences.…”

“…However, a number of additional empirical studies have similarly reinforced the concept of unintended connections occurring in bereaved young people (Normand et al, 1996;Foster et al, 2011;Hansen et al, 2016;Simpkins & Myers-Coffman, 2017).…”

“…Also prominent within the literature, was the concept of unintentional stimulation of senses to re-establish a connection with the deceased (Simpkins & Myers-Coffman, 2017). One of these studies was conducted in the United Kingdom through conducting semi-structured interviews with a sample of 13 parentally bereaved young people (Brewer & Sparkes, 2011).…”

“…While informative, all of these literature reviews possess methodological limitations due to a lack of transparency regarding search strategies employed and eligibility criteria for articles (Field et al, 2005;Packman et al, 2006;Root & Exline, 2014). However, a number of additional empirical studies have similarly reinforced the concept of unintended connections occurring in bereaved young people (Foster et al, 2011;Hansen et al, 2016;Normand et al, 1996;Simpkins & Myers-Coffman, 2017).…”