Transitions In Dying And Bereavement

Find the words--and the deeds--to meet the psychosocial needs of chronically ill and dying people, their families, and caregivers in this first-ever strengths-based, step-by-step guide through the labyrinthine process from diagnosis to death to bereavement. Transitions in Dying and Bereavement puts a human face on a difficult yet unavoidable topic. This book comprehensively and compassionately covers the key transitions that dying people and their families face and the most effective interventions to facilitate the transitions. Employing their many years of experience in hospice and palliative care, this team of counselors and other health care professionals provides: clear explanations of current theory and research related to hospice, palliative, and bereavement care ways to help alleviate anxiety, fear, fatigue, and feelings of denial and powerlessness ways to improve communication about the experience of dying help in planning for death the Palliative Performance Scale, a functional assessment tool sensitive explanations on navigating the three phases of grief perspectives on difficult issues such as body image, sexuality, and intimacy multicultural and interdenominational perspectives on death and dying ways to support staff and much more! Activities, exercises, case studies, personal essays, poetry, and illustrations are liberally and strategically located throughout the text, forming the perfect in-service, classroom, or professional development tool for nurses, physicians, counselors, social workers, allied health professionals, volunteers, and others who work with people traversing the end-of-life experience.

This text is not just another reader on death, but rather a carefully developed book, created specifically for those persons whose major interests are either death education, death counseling, or, of course, both. The audience which this book addresses include: persons who have had either experience in death counseling or education or previous academic work; those who are contemplating professional work in the field or who are already in the process of developing this area as one of their fields of competence; and individuals who are already either counselors or educators or otherwise involved in the fields of mental health or education and who wish to learn more about the relationship of death and grief to their work.

Based on practice knowledge of the authors rather than on research, this book may be particularly useful for those professionals who have not had hands-on experience with people at the last stages of dying. It is a resource that can be referred to time and again by those who care for people facing the final stage of life.

This book introduces a process-based, patient-centered approach to palliative care that substantiates an indication-oriented treatment and radical reconsideration of our transition to death. Drawing on decades of work with terminally ill cancer patients and a trove of research on near-death experiences, Monika Renz encourages practitioners to not only safeguard patients' dignity as they die but also take stock of their verbal, nonverbal, and metaphorical cues as they progress, helping to personalize treatment and realize a more peaceful death. Renz divides dying into three parts: pre-transition, transition, and post-transition. As we die, all egoism and ego-centered perception fall away, bringing us to another state of consciousness, a different register of sensitivity, and an alternative dimension of spiritual connectedness. As patients pass through these stages, they offer nonverbal signals that indicate their gradual withdrawal from everyday consciousness. This transformation explains why emotional and spiritual issues become enhanced during the dying process. Relatives and practitioners are often deeply impressed and feel a sense of awe. Fear and struggle shift to trust and peace; denial melts into acceptance. At first, family problems and the need for reconciliation are urgent, but gradually these concerns fade. By delineating these processes, Renz helps practitioners grow more cognizant of the changing emotions and symptoms of the patients under their care, enabling them to respond with the utmost respect for their patients' dignity.

This text is a valuable resource for clinicians who work with clients dealing with non-death, nonfinite, and ambiguous losses in their lives. It explores adjustment to change, transition, and loss from the perspective of the latest thinking in bereavement theory and research. The specific and unique aspects of different types of loss are discussed, such as infertility, aging, chronic illnesses and degenerative conditions, divorce and separation, immigration, adoption, loss of beliefs, and loss of employment. Harris and the contributing authors consider these from an experiential perspective, rather than a developmental one, in order to focus on the key elements of each loss as it may be experienced at any point in the lifespan. Concepts related to adaptation and coping with loss, such as resilience, hardiness, meaning making and the assumptive world, transcendence, and post traumatic growth are considered as part of the integration of loss into everyday life experience.

Loss, Grief, and Attachment in Life Transitions gives readers an attachment-informed grief counseling framework and a new way of understanding non-death loss and its treatment. Loss and grief are viewed through a wide-angle lens with relevance to the whole of human life, including the important area of career counseling and occupational consultation. The book is founded on the key themes of the Transition Cycle: welcome and contact, attachment and bonding, intimacy and sexuality, seperation and loss, grief and meaning reconstruction. Rich in case material related to loss and change, the book provides the tools for adopting a highly personalized approach to working with clients facing a range of life transitions. This book is a highly relevant and practical volume for grief counselors and other mental health professionals looking to incorporate attachment theory into their clinical practice.