The Shame Of Death Grief And Trauma

The Shame of Death presents a collection of unique and insightful essays sharing the common theme that shame is the central psychological and moral force in understanding death and mourning.

In this groundbreaking new work, David Kessler—an expert on grief and the coauthor with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross of the iconic On Grief and Grieving—journeys beyond the classic five stages to discover a sixth stage: meaning. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler Ross first identified the stages of dying in her transformative book On Death and Dying. Decades later, she and David Kessler wrote the classic On Grief and Grieving, introducing the stages of grief with the same transformative pragmatism and compassion. Now, based on hard-earned personal experiences, as well as knowledge and wisdom earned through decades of work with the grieving, Kessler introduces a critical sixth stage. Many people look for “closure” after a loss. Kessler argues that it’s finding meaning beyond the stages of grief most of us are familiar with—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—that can transform grief into a more peaceful and hopeful experience. In this book, Kessler gives readers a roadmap to remembering those who have died with more love than pain; he shows us how to move forward in a way that honors our loved ones. Kessler’s insight is both professional and intensely personal. His journey with grief began when, as a child, he witnessed a mass shooting at the same time his mother was dying. For most of his life, Kessler taught physicians, nurses, counselors, police, and first responders about end of life, trauma, and grief, as well as leading talks and retreats for those experiencing grief. Despite his knowledge, his life was upended by the sudden death of his twenty-one-year-old son. How does the grief expert handle such a tragic loss? He knew he had to find a way through this unexpected, devastating loss, a way that would honor his son. That, ultimately, was the sixth state of grief—meaning. In Finding Meaning, Kessler shares the insights, collective wisdom, and powerful tools that will help those experiencing loss. Finding Meaning is a necessary addition to grief literature and a vital guide to healing from tremendous loss. This is an inspiring, deeply intelligent must-read for anyone looking to journey away from suffering, through loss, and towards meaning.

Compassion-Based Approaches in Loss and Grief introduces clinicians to a wide array of strategies and frameworks for engaging clients throughout the loss experience, particularly when those experiences have a protracted course. In the book, clinicians and researchers from around the world and from a variety of fields explore ways to cultivate compassion and how to implement compassion-based clinical practices specifically designed to address loss, grief, and bereavement. Students, scholars, and mental health and healthcare professionals will come away from this important book with a deepened understanding of compassion-based approaches and strategies for enhancing distress tolerance, maintaining focus, and identifying the clinical interventions best suited to clients’ needs.

“Dr. Botkin has hit upon a fascinating and powerful new tool that may not only help clients cope with their losses, but also breaks new ground in understanding life and death.” —Bruce Greyson, MD, bestselling author of After “A must read for all serious students of death and dying.”—Raymond Moody, MD, PhD Induced After Death Communication (IADC) is a therapy for grief and trauma that has helped thousands of people come to terms with their loss by allowing them the experience of private communication with their departed loved ones. This is the definitive book on the subject. Botkin, a clinical psychologist, created the therapy while counseling Vietnam veterans in his work at a Chicago area VA hospital. Botkin recounts his initial—accidental—discovery of IADC during therapy sessions with Sam, a Vietnam vet haunted by the memory of a Vietnamese girl he couldn't save. During the session, quite unexpectedly, Sam saw a vision of the girl's spirit, who told him everything was okay; she was at peace now. This single moment surpassed months--years--of therapy, and allowed Sam to reconnect with his family. Since that 1995 discovery, Botkin has used IADC to successfully treat countless patients—the book includes dozens of case examples—and has taught the procedure to therapists around the country. This is the inside story of a revolutionary therapy that will profoundly affect how grief and trauma are understood and treated.

This two-volume book offers extensive interviews with persons who have made significant contributions to thanatology, the study of dying, death, loss, and grief. The book’s in-depth conversations provide compelling life stories of interest to clinicians, researchers, and educated lay persons, and to specialists interested in oral history as a means of gaining rich understandings of persons’ lives. Several disciplines that contribute to thanatology are represented in this book, such as psychology, religious studies, art, literature, history, social work, nursing, theology, education, psychiatry, sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. The book is unique; no other text offers such a comprehensive, insightful, and personal review of work in the thanatology field. The salience of thanatology is obvious when we consider several topics, including the aging demographics of most countries, the leading causes of death, the devastation of COVID-19, the realities of how most persons die, the growth both of hospice and of efforts within medicine to ensure that a good death becomes the norm of medical practice, and increases in the number of countries and states permitting physician-assisted suicide. This second volume includes conversations with 16 thanatologists, a rich, extensive bibliography, an index of names and subjects, and a biographical sketch of the author. The experts interviewed in this volume include Danai Papadatou, Holly Prigerson, Jack Jordan, Illene Cupit, Heather Servaty-Seib, Irwin Sandler, Simon Shimshon Rubin, Carla Sofka, Harold Ivan Smith, and Phyllis Kosminsky.

The Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief is a scholarly work of social criticism, richly grounded in personal experience, evocative case studies, and current multicultural and sociocultural theories and research. It is also consistently practical and reflective, challenging readers to think through responses to ethically complex scenarios in which social justice is undermined by radically uneven opportunity structures, hierarchies of voice and privilege, personal and professional power, and unconscious assumptions, at the very junctures when people are most vulnerable—at points of serious illness, confrontation with end-of-life decision making, and in the throes of grief and bereavement. Harris and Bordere give the reader an active and engaged take on the field, enticing readers to interrogate their own assumptions and practices while increasing, chapter after chapter, their cultural literacy regarding important groups and contexts. The Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief deeply and uniquely addresses a hot topic in the helping professions and social sciences and does so with uncommon readability.

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of drug-related death bereavement to increase understanding and help direct scientific research, with contributions from across the globe. It is the first comprehensive, cross-cultural, multidisciplinary review of research on drug-related death (DRD)bereavement. Chapters cover the impact of DRD at individual, family, cultural, and societal levels, and topics include working with, and social support for, families following drug-related loss, understanding grief processes of individuals, drug policy, and the importance of cultural contexts. The book also elaborates on methodological issues when researching DRD. This handbook will increase understanding of DRD bereavement and contribute to support for DRD bereaved persons and those who care for them professionally and personally. It is essential reading for professionals and academics in the field as well as anyone affected by DRD.

If ever there was an area requiring that the research-practice gap be bridged, surely it occurs where thanatologists engage with people dealing with human mortality and loss. The field of thanatology—the study of death and dying—is a complex, multidisciplinary area that encompases the range of human experiences, emotions, expectations, and realities. The Handbook of Thanatology is the most authoritative volume in the field, providing a single source of up-to-date scholarship, research, and practice implications. The handbook is the recommended resource for preparation for the prestigious certificate in thanatology (CT) and fellow in thanatology (FT) credentials, which are administered and granted by ADEC.