For People Affected by the Natural Disasters, Terrorist attacks
and other Traumatic Losses (pdf 34KB)

 Colin Murray Parkes OBE, MD, FRCPsych. Life President of Cruse Bereavement Care,
with the assistance of staff at Cruse, first prepared this information and advice to help victims of the Tsunami which struck the Indian Ocean on New Years Eve 2004. It has been revised in the wake of the terrorist attacks in London and we hope that it will go some way to mitigate some of the problems that continue to add to the suffering of people bereaved by disasters of all kinds.

In this paper we explain why a traumatic loss can give rise to special problems for which help may be needed from those who are our normal source of support at times of loss, our family and friends, and we indicate where such help can be found. All bereavements are traumatic but some are more traumatic than others. A traumatic loss is one that is unexpected, untimely and often associated with horrific or frightening circumstances.

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