About this ebook
Losing a father can be absolutely wrenching. This insightful guide tells the story of the strong connections between daughters and dads throughout life, and the consequential grief and loss a daughter feels when her father dies.
Stories from 50 women offer glimpses into the many aspects of father/daughter relationships that are warm and nurturing, sometimes complicated and conflicted, and always solid and enduring. The Italian American women interviewed ultimately find great peace and meaning in the on-going relationship with their fathers, even after death.
Using these women’s stories, the readers are presented a multi-faceted discussion filled with amusement, complexity and intensity, struggle and resistance, and above all, remarkably powerful family bonds. The daughters’ reactions to the passing of their fathers display the strength of relationships built over many years, as well as the spiritual and emotional framework that shapes the lives of many Italian American women today.
About the author
Lorraine Mangione, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Antioch University New England where she teaches doctoral students in The Department of Clinical Psychology. Her scholarly and teaching interests include group psychotherapy and group dynamics, clinical supervision, relational issues in education, and creativity and personal development. She recently became immersed in Italian-American issues, presenting on loss and mourning, poetry and women, fathers and daughters, and film.
Donna H. DiCello, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist in full-time practice in New Haven and Wallingford, CT and is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. She is the former Associate Director of the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the University of Hartford. Dr. DiCello has published and presented widely on the topic of Italian American mental health and grief and bereavement issues. Aside from her professional interests, she is also a published poet.
