Ask Allison: My dad died in front of me when I was 11 — is it normal to still feel upset all these years later?

Allison Keating answers your queries about life and relationships

The trauma of losing a parent at a young age can linger for a lifetime. Picture: Getty

Allison Keating

Question: My father died suddenly while I was out walking with him. I was 11 years old at the time. It’s now decades later and I feel I have never processed the death and as a child no one ever asked me how I was or discussed it with me. I was just left to get on with life.

I get upset now when I think about it after all these years and I wonder whether that is normal. I can’t speak about what happened and I can’t talk to my children about my father, as it still upsets me. Have you any advice?​