Issues of trauma and identity in surviving siblings’ narratives on perinatal loss

Abstract

Grief is an experience that the lost person is part of our own self; accompanied by the embarrassing feeling of experiencing death as a loss of a part of our own self (Kovácsné Török et al., 1995). The trajectory of transgenerational trauma often appears among families who have experienced perinatal loss, as the event is unbearable, its narrative is silent, and family members keep the secret because the pain of loss cannot be shared. This study presents the identity problems resulting from perinatal loss through a literature review and a brief analysis on siblings’ narratives who experienced perinatal loss. The author argues for the necessity of further research on the topic.