As I have thought more about anniversary reactions such as Daughter has every fall, I've realized that this year her reaction was made much worse by Dad's death on September 29. As the anniversary of the disintegration of her birth family approached, her grandfather died, and died before she had time to properly grieve and recover from her grandmother's death June 9.
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I told Therapist yesterday that I think she's still in the downward spiral, but the hospitalization rewound it a bit so she's in a better place than she was before she went in. When Therapist came out to get her, Daughter was sleeping with her head on my shoulder. She told Therapist she's overwhelmed. Therapist worked with her on breaking down the things that were overwhelming her with pieces of clay. She also told Therapist that the only place she feels safe is with me at home. Therapist succeeded in lifting her mood some, and she was more cooperative when we got home.
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Mom's birthday is at Thanksgiving, so I fear that Daughter will continue to struggle with anniversary issues and her grief for a while yet. I bought some playdough yesterday, so my hope is that next time she is overwhelmed she can use that to break it down into manageable pieces. Of course, the challenge with Daughter has always been that something like that only works one time, and then we have to find a new trick....
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