The grief process and symptoms will vary from child to child depending on the age and temperament of each child. There are many small losses in a person's life and this is especially true for adolescents. They experience the death of their early childhood as they struggle between wanting to be independent and fearing separation. When adolescents experience the loss of a family, they are often left even more bewildered in their search for identity. Because of these factors, adolescents are considered a high-risk group and need specialized and concentrated attention.
Loss sometimes is interpreted as betrayal by life or by a significant other.
This can intensify and complicate the feelings of loss and dictate the responses and recovery of the victim. Betrayal is a stone that shatters the window of the soul. If the window holds together, the view through it is distorted. The most grievous characteristic of betrayal is that it always comes from someone in whom you have invested trust. These actions and responses, in turn, set us up for more failure.