Children’s Exposure to Sudden Traumatic Death: Bereavement, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the Case for Early Intervention

This chapter examines the specific area of the impact of sudden, unexpected tragedy and will focus on children’s reactions that are severe and difficult to manage. These reactions have been delineated by various authors as “distorted,” “complicated,” or “disabling”. T. Rando states that there are five risk factors associated with traumatic death that increase complications for mourners. Rando suggests that when death is traumatic, “violence, …