The Psychology Of Grief

What is happening emotionally when we grieve for a loved one? Is there a ‘right’ way to grieve? What effect does grief have on how we see ourselves? The Psychology of Grief is a humane and intelligent account that highlights the wide range of responses we have to losing a loved one and explores how psychologists have sought to explain this experience. From Freud’s pioneering psychoanalysis to discredited ideas that we must pass through ‘stages’ of grief, the book examines the social and cultural norms that frame or limit our understanding of the grieving process, as well as looking at the language we use to describe it. Everyone, at some point in their lives, experiences bereavement and The Psychology of Grief will help readers understand both their own and others’ feelings of grief that accompany it.

The loss of a loved one can be overwhelming. How do we endure grief? Can we simply forget, or "get over it?" This book explains the science behind bereavement, from emotion to the persistence of memory, and shows readers how to understand and adapt to death as a part of life. Responses to loss are typically associated with negative emotions, traumatic memories, or separation distress, but we grieve because we care. This book demonstrates how negative emotional responses experienced in grief often follow experiences with positive emotional memories. Dr. Lamia emphasizes an understanding and acceptance of post-loss emotions. Grief Isn't Something to Get Over aims to expand our understanding of bereavement, placing it in alignment with how emotions work. Using numerous case examples and personal vignettes, this book helps readers recognize the ways in which emotions are connected to memories and influence our experiences of loss.

The Grieving Brain has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

In this study on the evolution of grief John Archer shows that grief is a natrual reaction to losses of many sorts and he proves this by bringing together material from evolutionary psychology, ethology and experimental psychology.

We tend to understand grief as a predictable five-stage process of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But in The Other Side of Sadness, George Bonanno shows that our conventional model discounts our capacity for resilience. In ...

The Handbook of Bereavement Research provides a broad view of diverse contemporary approaches to bereavement, examining both normal adaptation and complex manifestations of grief. In this volume, leading interdisciplinary scholars focus on 3 important themes in bereavement research: consequences, coping, and care. In exploring the consequences of bereavement, authors examine developmental factors that influence grief both for the individual and the family at different phases of the life cycle. In exploring coping, they describe new empirical studies about how people can and do cope with grief, without professional intervention. Until recently, intervention for the bereaved has not been scientifically guided and has become the subject of challenging differences of opinion and approach. Chapters in the care section of the volume critically examine interventions to date and provide guidance for assessment and more theoretically and empirically guided treatment strategies. The Handbook provides an up-to-date comprehensive review of scientific knowledge about bereavement in an authoritative yet accessible way that will be essential reading for researchers, practitioners, and health care professionals in the 21st century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved).

How do bereaved people come to terms with their loss? What factors are important in successful coping? The death of a loved one is one of the most painful experiences that we have to encounter. If the loved one is a child or partner the experience can be especially devastating. How do we cope? Do our families provide sufficient support? Would professional help be better? In this book, originally published in 1992, the author provides an in-depth study of the many aspects of bereavement and the grieving process. With ample support from personal accounts of bereaved people, she examines the experience of bereavement: what can go wrong, the importance of social networks, both family and professional, and looks at how society’s attitudes to death and dying can affect our ability to cope. There are specific chapters on the death of children in childhood, adolescence and adult life, and on the death of a partner. The result is a book that will be of importance to all those who have regular contact with the dying and bereaved.

An original, authoritative guide to the impact of grief on the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved Grief happens to everyone. Universal and enveloping, grief cannot be ignored or denied. This original new book by psychologist Dorothy P. Holinger uses humanistic and physiological approaches to describe grief’s impact on the bereaved. Taking examples from literature, music, poetry, paleoarchaeology, personal experience, memoirs, and patient narratives, Holinger describes what happens in the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved. Readers will learn what grief is like after a loved one dies: how language and clarity of thought become elusive, why life feels empty, why grief surges and ebbs so persistently, and why the bereaved cry. Resting on a scientific foundation, this literary book shows the bereaved how to move through the grieving process and how understanding grief in deeper, more multidimensional ways can help quell this sorrow and allow life to be lived again with joy. Visit the author's companion website for The Anatomy of Grief: dorothypholinger.com