Grieving Reproductive Loss

Grieving Reproductive Loss: The Healing Process acknowledges the devastating impact these losses can have. Written in ""plain language"", the book attempts to bring about a greater understanding of the grief associated with reproductive loss and, through the Healing Process Model[copyright], offers a holistic approach for constructive healthy grieving and healing of body, mind, and spirit.

Grieving Reproductive Loss: The Healing Process acknowledges the devastating impact these losses can have. Written in ""plain language"", the book attempts to bring about a greater understanding of the grief associated with reproductive loss and, through the Healing Process Model[copyright], offers a holistic approach for constructive healthy grieving and healing of body, mind, and spirit.

The study of human reproduction has focused on reproductive ’success’ and on the struggle to achieve this, rather than on the much more common experience of ’failure’, or reproductive loss. Drawing on the latest research from The UK and Europe, The United States, Australia and Africa, this volume examines the experience of reproductive loss in its widest sense to include termination of pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, perinatal and infant death, as well as - more broadly - the loss of desired normative experiences such as that associated with infertility, assisted reproduction and the medicalisation of 'high risk' pregnancy and birth. Exploring the commonalities, as well as issues of difference and diversity, Understanding Reproductive Loss presents international work from a variety of multi-disciplinary perspectives and will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists with interests in medicine, health, the body, death studies and gender.

Working with Infertility and Grief: A Practical Guide for Helping Professionals explores issues of grief, including disenfranchised grief and chronic sorrow, related to infertility and reproductive loss. Out of the small handful of books related to this topic, this is the first of its kind geared toward equipping helping professionals who assist those grieving unrecognized losses. Written through the lens of the literary framework of The Hero’s Journey, this comprehensive practitioner guide directly targets mental health professionals working with clients, supervisees, or students who have experienced infertility, miscarriage, or death of an infant. This book is also for those who experienced it themselves. Readers will learn more about the crisis of infertility and reproductive loss, gain insight into the experience of those suffering, and acquire practical tools and strategies for helping and healing. This text is broad enough to be integrated into a course for a graduate program and specific enough to serve as a shelf reference for those in practice.

"In this book you’ll find a thoughtfully edited chronicle of the unique convergence of genetic, hormonal, social, and environmental forces that influence a woman’s mental health over the course of her life. Both comprehensive and nuanced, Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan captures the science, clinical observation, and collective wisdom of experts in the field. Professionals and laypersons alike are well-advised to make room on their bookshelves for this one!" - Margaret Howard, Ph.D., Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Women & Infants Hospital, Providence RI "This outstanding collection of work is an important, timely, and much needed resource. Dr. Diana Lynn Barnes has been instrumental in bringing attention to the needs of perinatal women for decades. In Women's Reproductive Health Across the Lifespan, she brilliantly unites the medical world of reproductive life events with the psychiatric and psychological world of mental health issues associated with them. Her expertise, combined with contributions by distinguished leaders in the field, create a volume of work that should be studied carefully by every medical and mental health provider who works with women." - Karen Kleiman, MSW, The Postpartum Stress Center, Author of Therapy and the Postpartum Woman "Finally, a book that addresses the entire scope of women’s reproductive mental health spanning the gamut from puberty to menopause. The list of chapter contributors reads like a who’s who of international experts. Unique to this book is its focus on the interaction of genetics, hormonal fluctuations, and the social environment. It is a must addition for the libraries of clinicians and researchers in women’s reproductive mental health". - Cheryl Tatano Beck, DNSc, CNM, FAAN, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, School of Nursing, University of Connecticut Pregnancy and childbirth are generally viewed as joyous occasions. Yet for numerous women, these events instead bring anxiety, depression, and emotional distress. Increased interest in risk reduction and early clinical intervention is bringing reproductive issues to the forefront of women's mental health. The scope of Women's Reproductive Mental Health across the Lifespan begins long before the childbearing years, and continues well after those years have ended. Empirical findings, case examples, and dispatches from emerging areas of the field illuminate representative issues across the continuum of women's lives with the goal of more effective care benefitting women and their families. Chapter authors discuss advances in areas such as fertility treatment and contraception, and present current thinking on the psychological impact of pregnancy loss, menopause, cancer, and other stressors. These expert contributors emphasize the connections between an individual's biology and psychology and cultural expectations in shaping women's mental health, and the balance between a client's unique history and current clinical knowledge clinicians need to address disorders. Included in the coverage: The experience of puberty and emotional wellbeing. Body image issues and eating disorders in the childbearing years. Risk assessment and screening during pregnancy. Normal and pathological postpartum anxiety. Mood disorders and the transition to menopause. The evolution of reproductive psychiatry. A reference with an extended shelf life, Women's Reproductive Mental Health across the Lifespan enhances the work of researchers and practitioners in social work, clinical psychology, and psychiatry, and has potential relevance to all health care professionals.

A comprehensive guide for the clinical practitioner. The authors draw from a wealth of empirical research as well as numerous case studies to provide a deep understanding of the experience of infertility and how to help guide patients through the process.ùMary P. Riddle, PhD, The Pennsylvania State University, World Campus --

This volume offers an overview of the latest research on perinatal adaptation among women who have faced trauma, loss and/or adversity, both in childhood and/or as an adult, and describes the varied trajectories of adaptive and maladaptive coping that follow. The range of outcomes considered span from health-limiting (e.g. mental illness, substance use, unhealthy life style behaviours) to health-promoting (e.g. resilience and posttraumatic growth). These outcomes are examined both in relation to mothers’ experience of motherhood and parenting, and with regard to their children’s lives. Interpersonal trauma, experienced in childhood and/or or adulthood, can have a profound effect on how women experience the transition into motherhood – from pregnancy, to childbirth, and postpartum caregiving. Women across the globe are exposed to high rates of interpersonal violence, and face the physical and emotional consequences of such events. The shift into motherhood is an emotionally evocative period in a woman’s life, entailing not only challenges, but also the potential for healing and growth. Individual chapters will present state-of-the-art research, and will also highlight the voices of women who have personally experienced trauma, illustrating the effects on their experiences as mothers. Throughout the book, the consistent emphasis is on clinical implications and on ways that providers can create a context for healing and growth with the help of current evidence-based and promising treatment methods.