Grief - Myths, Realities and Cliches

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Author :
Publisher : Covenant Books, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1644710714
Total Pages : 555 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (447 download)

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Book Synopsis Grief - Myths, Realities and Cliches by : Wally Buyer

Download or read book Grief - Myths, Realities and Cliches written by Wally Buyer and published by Covenant Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2019-03-11 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Managing grief is a monumental task and requires the bereaved to navigate through a myriad of obstacles that are not the same but unique to each person experiencing grief. The emotional fallout associated with grief is often likened to "the elephant in the room," and few (including the bereaved) want to acknowledge its existence. Fewer still want to openly discuss what the bereaved are experiencing. The bereaved person typically just wants a friend with a willing ear to listen and/or permission to take the needed time to process the loss they are grieving. They don't want someone to pass judgment as to what they're feeling, nor do they want proffered advice as to how better to cope with their grief. They just want to have someone to care or give them a hug and offer a shoulder on which to shed their tears. Well-intended friends will, nevertheless, unknowingly offer irrelevant or hurtful advice, employing the use of cliché's or the many myths that surround what to expect during the grieving process. This book attempts to shine a light on what to expect, what to avoid, and what to ignore. The bereaved person reading it can use it as a resource, therefore, to help mute the painful impact of what they may hear from well-intended friends. For those wanting to help the bereaved, it can be used to as a resource for better understanding the grieving process and how to avoid saying the wrong thing.

The Five Most Harmful Myths About Grief

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Author :
Publisher : Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1457568039
Total Pages : 52 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (575 download)

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Book Synopsis The Five Most Harmful Myths About Grief by : Elaine Voci

Download or read book The Five Most Harmful Myths About Grief written by Elaine Voci and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2019-03-26 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guidance from a Life Coach for Navigating the Unsolicited Bad Advice Given to People Who Are Grieving This is a book about how to recognize and overcome the five most common and harmful myths about grief that are not only untrue, but are also the source of much of the unsolicited bad advice given to people who are grieving. This book shows you what healthy grieving looks like, and inspires you with practical, true stories from real-life experiences that can help ease your journey through grief. It teaches you that death, loss, and grief are bearable because you are more resilient than you know. In The Five Most Harmful Myths About Grief, Elaine encourages us to uphold two kinds of courage needed for the journey of grief: the first is to face our own mortality, and that of our loved ones. Every human life story has a beginning and an end. In between those two points, courage helps us discover what has meaning for us, and helps us decide what we will do with the time we have. The second kind of courage is even more important – the courage to act on what is real, true, and possible for us when grief cracks open our hearts and renders us tender, wounded, and lonely. Whether you are a newly bereaved person, or someone who has been through grief and loss over the years, this book will offer comfort, insightful information, and gentle companionship to make it through the dark nights of the soul, not just intact, but stronger and wiser for the experience. ~ Elaine Voci, Ph.D.

The Truth About Grief

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439152640
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis The Truth About Grief by : Ruth Davis Konigsberg

Download or read book The Truth About Grief written by Ruth Davis Konigsberg and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The five stages of grief are so deeply imbedded in our culture that no American can escape them. Every time we experience loss—a personal or national one—we hear them recited: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The stages are invoked to explain everything from how we will recover from the death of a loved one to a sudden environmental catastrophe or to the trading away of a basketball star. But the stunning fact is that there is no validity to the stages that were proposed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross more than forty years ago. In The Truth About Grief, Ruth Davis Konigsberg shows how the five stages were based on no science but nonetheless became national myth. She explains that current research paints a completely different picture of how we actually grieve. It turns out people are pretty well programmed to get over loss. Grieving should not be a strictly regimented process, she argues; nor is the best remedy for pain always to examine it or express it at great length. The strength of Konigsberg’s message is its liberating force: there is no manual to grieving; you can do it freestyle. In the course of clarifying our picture of grief, Konigsberg tells its history, revealing how social and cultural forces have shaped our approach to loss from the Gettysburg Address through 9/11. She examines how the American version of grief has spread to the rest of the world and contrasts it with the interpretations of other cultures—like the Chinese, who focus more on their bond with the deceased than on the emotional impact of bereavement. Konigsberg also offers a close look at Kübler-Ross herself: who she borrowed from to come up with her theory, and how she went from being a pioneering psychiatrist to a New Age healer who sought the guidance of two spirits named Salem and Pedro and declared that death did not exist. Deeply researched and provocative, The Truth About Grief draws on history, culture, and science to upend our country’s most entrenched beliefs about its most common experience.

Myths of the Mirror

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780988954229
Total Pages : 588 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (542 download)

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Book Synopsis Myths of the Mirror by : D Wallace Peach

Download or read book Myths of the Mirror written by D Wallace Peach and published by . This book was released on 2013-04 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty years past, the governors plotted murder. Ruled by avarice, they imprisoned the winged dragons of Taran Leigh in the black cells of a stone lair. Tormented by spine and spur the once peaceful creatures howl, immense webbed wings beating beneath iron bars. Those who raised their voices in protest were banished--skyriders, the men who rode the dragons--vanished to the distant mountains of the Mirror.Now, Treasa, the daughter of exiles, seeker of secrets, dreams with the lair's dragons, her heart torn by her love for the winged creatures and a man who masters them. She must choose her path with care. The lair's black -garbed riders sense the dragon's growing savagery. Yet one, Conall, longs to grasp their power, subdue them and soar, unaware that winged flight, merged in harmony, is his for the asking. Then, a curved talon rends Conall's flesh and dragon scale, rattling against white ribs and the world shifts. As hearts once parted bind, Terasa and Conall join forces to fight for the dragon's freedom. Alliances form, old myths are revealed and new myths are born.

Healing Grief

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Author :
Publisher : Chalice Press
ISBN 13 : 9780827214415
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (144 download)

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Book Synopsis Healing Grief by : Victor Parachin

Download or read book Healing Grief written by Victor Parachin and published by Chalice Press. This book was released on 2001-07-01 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Victor Parachin offers ten steps to help understand and manage grief and to cope with life during this difficult time. A special section for men provides specific information and examples for this often-silent group of mourners. Healing Grief is an ideal resource for pastors, chaplains, and other grief counselors to give to those who have experienced a loss.

Myth and Reality in Irish Literature

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Publisher : Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN 13 : 0889206287
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (892 download)

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Book Synopsis Myth and Reality in Irish Literature by : Joseph Ronsley

Download or read book Myth and Reality in Irish Literature written by Joseph Ronsley and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myth and Reality in Irish Literature offers a rich collection of essays covering a wide spectrum of Irish literature from the early medieval saints and scholars to twentieth century writers such as Joyce and Beckett. Lady Gregory, Synge, Yeats, O'Casey and Myles na Gopaleen are among the poets, playwrights, critics, and authors treated in the book. The essays are written from both a personal and a scholarly perspective. Contributors to the volume include the Irish authors Denis Johnston, Thomas Kilroy, Kate O'Brien and Thomas Kinsella, and scholars David Greene, Denis Donoghue, Ann Saddlemyer and Shotaro Oshima. Of interest to students of English Literature as well as observers of the Irish scene, this book is of particular value to students of Irish heritage and literature.

The Voices We Carry

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Publisher : Moody Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0802498817
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis The Voices We Carry by : J. S. Park

Download or read book The Voices We Carry written by J. S. Park and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reclaim Your Headspace and Find Your One True Voice As a hospital chaplain, J.S. Park encountered hundreds of patients at the edge of life and death, listening as they urgently shared their stories, confessions, and final words. J.S. began to identify patterns in his patients’ lives—patterns he also saw in his own life. He began to see that the events and traumas we experience throughout life become deafening voices that remain within us, even when the events are far in the past. He was surprised to find that in hearing the voices of his patients, he began to identify his own voices and all the ways they could both harm and heal. In The Voices We Carry, J.S. draws from his experiences as a hospital chaplain to present the Voices Model. This model explores the four internal voices of self-doubt, pride, people-pleasing, and judgment, and the four external voices of trauma, guilt, grief, and family dynamics. He also draws from his Asian-American upbringing to examine the challenges of identity and feeling “other.” J.S. outlines how to wrestle with our voices, and even befriend them, how to find our authentic voice in a world of mixed messages, and how to empower those who are voiceless. Filled with evidence-based research, spiritual and psychological insights, and stories of patient encounters, The Voices We Carry is an inspiring memoir of unexpected growth, humor, and what matters most. For those wading through a world of clamor and noise, this is a guide to find your clear, steady voice.

Eternity Is Real and Death Is a Myth

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780984666546
Total Pages : 46 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (665 download)

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Book Synopsis Eternity Is Real and Death Is a Myth by : Sheri Perl

Download or read book Eternity Is Real and Death Is a Myth written by Sheri Perl and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-11 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A delightful book of quotes, commentary and original photographs on the topic of life after death. Supportive, inspirational and visually beautiful this little book will warm up any coffee table and spark many conversations.

The Myth and Reality of Judaism

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Publisher : Behrman House, Inc
ISBN 13 : 9780874414790
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (147 download)

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Book Synopsis The Myth and Reality of Judaism by : Simon Glustrom

Download or read book The Myth and Reality of Judaism written by Simon Glustrom and published by Behrman House, Inc. This book was released on 1989 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jewish wisdom and candor on fascinating hot-button topics including: God ethics sex women in Judaism and much more. High school and adult education classes will be riveted.

It's OK That You're Not OK

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Publisher : Sounds True
ISBN 13 : 1622039084
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis It's OK That You're Not OK by : Megan Devine

Download or read book It's OK That You're Not OK written by Megan Devine and published by Sounds True. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging conventional wisdom on grief, a pioneering therapist offers a new resource for those experiencing loss When a painful loss or life-shattering event upends your world, here is the first thing to know: there is nothing wrong with grief. “Grief is simply love in its most wild and painful form,” says Megan Devine. “It is a natural and sane response to loss.” So, why does our culture treat grief like a disease to be cured as quickly as possible? In It’s OK That You’re Not OK, Megan Devine offers a profound new approach to both the experience of grief and the way we try to help others who have endured tragedy. Having experienced grief from both sides—as both a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner—Megan writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, “happy” life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it. In this compelling and heartful book, you’ll learn: • Why well-meaning advice, therapy, and spiritual wisdom so often end up making it harder for people in grief • How challenging the myths of grief—doing away with stages, timetables, and unrealistic ideals about how grief should unfold—allows us to accept grief as a mystery to be honored instead of a problem to solve • Practical guidance for managing stress, improving sleep, and decreasing anxiety without trying to “fix” your pain • How to help the people you love—with essays to teach us the best skills, checklists, and suggestions for supporting and comforting others through the grieving process Many people who have suffered a loss feel judged, dismissed, and misunderstood by a culture that wants to “solve” grief. Megan writes, “Grief no more needs a solution than love needs a solution.” Through stories, research, life tips, and creative and mindfulness-based practices, she offers a unique guide through an experience we all must face—in our personal lives, in the lives of those we love, and in the wider world. It’s OK That You’re Not OK is a book for grieving people, those who love them, and all those seeking to love themselves—and each other—better.

Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

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Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476628785
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality by : Richard M. Langworth

Download or read book Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality written by Richard M. Langworth and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-03-29 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winston Churchill, indispensable when liberty was in peril, died in 1965. Yet he is still accused of numerous sins, from alcoholism and racism to misogyny and warmongering. On the Internet, he simmers in a stew of imagined misdeeds--using poison gas, firebombing Dresden, causing the Bengal famine, and so on. Drawing on the author's fifty years of research and writing on Churchill, this book uncovers scores of myths surrounding him--the popular and the obscure--to reveal what he really said and did about many issues. Churchill had two personas--one that thought deeply about the nature of humanity, and one that helped solve seemingly intractable problems. In his many decades in public life, he made mistakes, but his faults were well eclipsed by his virtues.

A GRIEF OBSERVED (Based on a Personal Journal)

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Author :
Publisher : DigiCat
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 45 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (596 download)

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Book Synopsis A GRIEF OBSERVED (Based on a Personal Journal) by : C. S. Lewis

Download or read book A GRIEF OBSERVED (Based on a Personal Journal) written by C. S. Lewis and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2023-12-29 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Grief Observed is a collection of Lewis's reflections on the experience of bereavement following the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, in 1960. The book was first published under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk as Lewis wished to avoid identification as the author. Though republished in 1963 after his death under his own name, the text still refers to his wife as "H" (her first name, which she rarely used, was Helen). The book is compiled from the four notebooks which Lewis used to vent and explore his grief. He illustrates the everyday trials of his life without Joy and explores fundamental questions of faith and theodicy. Lewis's step-son (Joy's son) Douglas Gresham points out in his 1994 introduction that the indefinite article 'a' in the title makes it clear that Lewis's grief is not the quintessential grief experience at the loss of a loved one, but one individual's perspective among countless others. The book helped inspire a 1985 television movie Shadowlands, as well as a 1993 film of the same name. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, lay theologian and Christian apologist. He is best known for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317971566
Total Pages : 167 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss by : Thomas Moe

Download or read book Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss written by Thomas Moe and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-02 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until now, the church has been unaware of the need for ministry to those suffering from pregnancy loss. At a time when approximately one in four pregnancies ends in loss, the need to understand and provide caring ministry is painfully obvious. Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss introduces the religious community to the issue of pregnancy loss and describes the ministries that can be helpful to those who experience these tragedies. Effective ministry in pregnancy loss requires that one develop basic life theories in order to prepare for such in-depth care. Thus, the book is more than a “how to” as it explores why there is suffering and why some suffer more than others, how to find grace when God seems far away, how to minister when we don’t have answers, and how religious ministry can consistently work with other helping professionals in support of the individual. With the foundation of ministry theory provided by Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss, you can help your faith community develop strategies for ministry to those suffering from pregnancy loss. Numerous case studies illustrate what is usually done wrong in providing pastoral care in these difficult and delicate situations and explain why those who experience loss may blame themselves, why they may blame God, and why they may not feel able to return to church. Providing helpful insight to hospital pastoral care departments, church libraries, funeral directors, counselors and psychologists, nursing and obstetrics professionals, and seminaries with a marriage and family ministry specialty, this book provides readers with information about: three types of pregnancy loss--miscarriage, still birth, and neonatal loss church outreach the grieving process victims as “consenters” or “experiencers” the spiritual needs of those suffering loss practical ministries crisis support and long-term support. Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss furthers your understanding of pregnancy loss by enumerating theories on how suffering and loss are viewed by those suffering--either as a time of testing, a time of training, a mystery of God, a sign of punishment and warning, or as having no meaning. The book also shows how pregnancy loss affects five different types of personal relationships and discusses both immediate and long-term concerns of providing pastoral care. From helping the victim find meaning or reason for the loss to providing support in preparing for future pregnancies, this book provides much-needed guidance to an often-neglected ministry.

Walking on Cowrie Shells

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Publisher : Black Spot Books
ISBN 13 : 1911648349
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (116 download)

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Book Synopsis Walking on Cowrie Shells by : Nana Nkweti

Download or read book Walking on Cowrie Shells written by Nana Nkweti and published by Black Spot Books. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “boisterous and high-spirited debut” (Kirkus starred review)“that enthralls the reader through their every twist and turn” (Publishers Weekly starred review), named one of the Most Anticipated Books for Brittle Paper, The Millions, and The Rumpus, penned by a finalist for the AKO Caine PrizeIn her powerful, genre-bending debut story collection, Nana Nkweti's virtuosity is on full display as she mixes deft realism with clever inversions of genre. In the Caine Prize finalist story “It Takes a Village, Some Say,” Nkweti skewers racial prejudice and the practice of international adoption, delivering a sly tale about a teenage girl who leverages her adoptive parents to fast-track her fortunes. In “The Devil Is a Liar,” a pregnant pastor's wife struggles with the collision of western Christianity and her mother's traditional Cameroonian belief system as she worries about her unborn child.In other stories, Nkweti vaults past realism, upending genre expectations in a satirical romp about a jaded PR professional trying to spin a zombie outbreak in West Africa, and in a mermaid tale about a Mami Wata who forgoes her power by remaining faithful to a fisherman she loves.

Grief Day by Day

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Publisher : Althea Press
ISBN 13 : 9781641521314
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (213 download)

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Book Synopsis Grief Day by Day by : Jan Warner

Download or read book Grief Day by Day written by Jan Warner and published by Althea Press. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grief Day by Day offers supportive readings and exercises to help you move through life after loss, one day at a time. Grief is complex. It is ever changing and may come to us differently on any given day. Grief Day by Day offers reflections and practices that address the day-to-day feelings that accompany the ever changing process of grief. In Grief Day by Day, Jan Warner draws on her own extensive experience and the experiences of the 2 million followers on her Grief Speaks Out Facebook page to offer hope in its most practical form. This book does not look to offer a solution to grief. Rather, it provides supportive, useful guidance to help you create a life in which peace, and even gratitude, can coexist with your grief. Inside the pages of Grief Day by Day you'll find: 365 Daily Reflections that include quotes, meditations, and other musings on grief Weekly Themes that capture common feelings and experiences such as: Loneliness, Things Left Unsaid, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Guilt, and Intimacy 52 Healing Exercises that help you process your feelings at the end of each week and develop skills for coping with grief as it arises There is no "right way" to grieve, and there is no right way to use this book. Whether you follow it page by page, or select that which seems most relevant to you at the moment, how you use this book is less important than why you are using it. You're using this book because you have chosen to honor your experience, to make a home for your grief, and to find a new way of living on the bridge between loss and life.

The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change

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Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 1324016825
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change by : Pauline Boss

Download or read book The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change written by Pauline Boss and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we begin to cope with loss that cannot be resolved? The COVID-19 pandemic has left many of us haunted by feelings of anxiety, despair, and even anger. In this book, pioneering therapist Pauline Boss identifies these vague feelings of distress as caused by ambiguous loss, losses that remain unclear and hard to pin down, and thus have no closure. Collectively the world is grieving as the pandemic continues to change our everyday lives. With a loss of trust in the world as a safe place, a loss of certainty about health care, education, employment, lingering anxieties plague many of us, even as parts of the world are opening back up again. Yet after so much loss, our search must be for a sense of meaning, and not something as elusive and impossible as "closure." This book provides many strategies for coping: encouraging us to increase our tolerance of ambiguity and acknowledging our resilience as we express a normal grief, and still look to the future with hope and possibility.

Ambiguous Loss

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674028589
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Ambiguous Loss by : Pauline BOSS

Download or read book Ambiguous Loss written by Pauline BOSS and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a loved one dies we mourn our loss. We take comfort in the rituals that mark the passing, and we turn to those around us for support. But what happens when there is no closure, when a family member or a friend who may be still alive is lost to us nonetheless? How, for example, does the mother whose soldier son is missing in action, or the family of an Alzheimer's patient who is suffering from severe dementia, deal with the uncertainty surrounding this kind of loss? In this sensitive and lucid account, Pauline Boss explains that, all too often, those confronted with such ambiguous loss fluctuate between hope and hopelessness. Suffered too long, these emotions can deaden feeling and make it impossible for people to move on with their lives. Yet the central message of this book is that they can move on. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Boss suggests strategies that can cushion the pain and help families come to terms with their grief. Her work features the heartening narratives of those who cope with ambiguous loss and manage to leave their sadness behind, including those who have lost family members to divorce, immigration, adoption, chronic mental illness, and brain injury. With its message of hope, this eloquent book offers guidance and understanding to those struggling to regain their lives. Table of Contents: 1. Frozen Grief 2. Leaving without Goodbye 3. Goodbye without Leaving 4. Mixed Emotions 5. Ups and Downs 6. The Family Gamble 7. The Turning Point 8. Making Sense out of Ambiguity 9. The Benefit of a Doubt Notes Acknowledgments Reviews of this book: You will find yourself thinking about the issues discussed in this book long after you put it down and perhaps wishing you had extra copies for friends and family members who might benefit from knowing that their sorrows are not unique...This book's value lies in its giving a name to a force many of us will confront--sadly, more than once--and providing personal stories based on 20 years of interviews and research. --Pamela Gerhardt, Washington Post Reviews of this book: A compassionate exploration of the effects of ambiguous loss and how those experiencing it handle this most devastating of losses ... Boss's approach is to encourage families to talk together, to reach a consensus about how to mourn that which has been lost and how to celebrate that which remains. Her simple stories of families doing just that contain lessons for all. Insightful, practical, and refreshingly free of psychobabble. --Kirkus Review Reviews of this book: Engagingly written and richly rewarding, this title presents what Boss has learned from many years of treating individuals and families suffering from uncertain or incomplete loss...The obvious depth of the author's understanding of sufferers of ambiguous loss and the facility with which she communicates that understanding make this a book to be recommended. --R. R. Cornellius, Choice Reviews of this book: Written for a wide readership, the concepts of ambiguous loss take immediate form through the many provocative examples and stories Boss includes, All readers will find stories with which they will relate...Sensitive, grounded and practical, this book should, in my estimation, be required reading for family practitioners. --Ted Bowman, Family Forum Reviews of this book: Dr. Boss describes [the] all-too-common phenomenon [of unresolved grief] as resulting from either of two circumstances: when the lost person is still physically present but emotionally absent or when the lost person is physically absent but still emotionally present. In addition to senility, physical presence but psychological absence may result, for example, when a person is suffering from a serious mental disorder like schizophrenia or depression or debilitating neurological damage from an accident or severe stroke, when a person abuses drugs or alcohol, when a child is autistic or when a spouse is a workaholic who is not really 'there' even when he or she is at home...Cases of physical absence with continuing psychological presence typically occur when a soldier is missing in action, when a child disappears and is not found, when a former lover or spouse is still very much missed, when a child 'loses' a parent to divorce or when people are separated from their loved ones by immigration...Professionals familiar with Dr. Boss's work emphasised that people suffering from ambiguous loss were not mentally ill, but were just stuck and needed help getting past the barrier or unresolved grief so that they could get on with their lives. --Asian Age Combining her talents as a compassionate family therapist and a creative researcher, Pauline Boss eloquently shows the many and complex ways that people can cope with the inevitable losses in contemporary family life. A wise book, and certain to become a classic. --Constance R. Ahrons, author of The Good Divorce A powerful and healing book. Families experiencing ambiguous loss will find strategies for seeing what aspects of their loved ones remain, and for understanding and grieving what they have lost. Pauline Boss offers us both insight and clarity. --Kathy Weingarten, Ph.D, The Family Institute of Cambridge, Harvard Medical School