Maintaining dignity for patients approaching death is a core principle of palliative care. Dignity therapy, a psychological intervention developed by Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov and his internationally lauded research group, has been designed specifically to address many of the psychological, existential, and spiritual challenges that patients and their families face as they grapple with the reality of life drawing to a close. In the first book to lay out the blueprint for this unique and meaningful intervention, Chochinov addresses one of the most important dimensions of being human. Being alive means being vulnerable and mortal; he argues that dignity therapy offers a way to preserve meaning and hope for patients approaching death. With history and foundations of dignity in care, and step by step guidance for readers interested in implementing the program, this volume illuminates how dignity therapy can change end-of-life experience for those about to die - and for those who will grieve their passing.

Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully provides valuable insight into the experience of patients and families living with advanced cancer and describes a novel psychotherapeutic approach to help them live meaningfully, while also facing the threat of mortality. Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully, also known by the acronym CALM, is a brief supportive-expressive intervention that can be delivered by a wide range of trained healthcare providers as part of cancer care or early palliative care. The authors provide an overview of the clinical experience and research that led to the development of CALM, a clear description of the intervention, and a manualized guide to aid in its delivery. Situated in the context of early palliative care, this text is destined to be become essential reading for healthcare professionals engaged in providing psychological support to patients and their families who face the practical and profound problems of advanced disease.

This book provides family doctors with a wealth of evidence-based indications and tips regarding geriatric medicine and approaches for the management of older patients, to be applied in daily practice. After discussing old and new features of healthy ageing and the approaches required in Family Medicine Consultation, the text introduces key elements of geriatric medicine such as frailty, sarcopenia, and the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), before describing a range of characteristics unique to older patients in different contexts, with a dedicated section on Palliative Care. The role of polypharmacy and the importance of quaternary prevention and deprescribing are also addressed. Finally, the book emphasizes both the importance of a humanistic approach in caring and the approach of research and meta-research in geriatrics. Though many texts explore the role of primary care professionals in geriatric medicine, the role of family doctors in older people care has not yet been clearly addressed, despite the growing burden of ageing, which has been dubbed the “silver tsunami.” Family physicians care for individuals in the context of their family, community, and culture, respecting the autonomy of their patients. In negotiating management plans with their patients, family doctors integrate physical, psychological, social, cultural and existential factors, utilizing the knowledge and trust engendered by repeated visits. They do so by promoting health, preventing disease, providing cures, care, or palliation and promoting patient empowerment and self-management. This will likely become all the more important, since we are witnessing a global demographic shift and family doctors will be responsible for and involved in caring for a growing population of older patients. This book is intended for family medicine trainees and professionals, but can also be a useful tool for geriatricians, helping them to better understand some features of primary care and to more fruitfully interact with family doctors.

New Techniques of Grief Therapy: Bereavement and Beyond expands on the mission of the previous two Techniques books, featuring innovative approaches to address the needs of those whose lives have been shadowed by loss—whether through bereavement, serious illness, the rupture of a relationship, or other complex or intangible losses, such as of an identity-defining career. The book starts with several framing chapters by prominent theorists that provide a big- picture orientation to grief work and follows with a generous toolkit of creative therapeutic techniques described in concrete detail and anchored in illustrative case studies to convey their use in actual practice. New Techniques of Grief Therapy is an indispensable resource for professionals working in hospice, hospital, palliative care, and elder care settings; clinicians in broader health-care and mental health-care practices; executive coaches; and students in the field of grief therapy.

There is a growing awareness of the need to address the psychological distress associated with physical ill health; however, current resources are limited and difficult to access. The best way to tackle the issue is by enhancing the skills of those professionals who have routine contact with them. CBT provides the evidence-based skills that most readily meet these requirements in a time and cost efficient manner. Based on materials prepared for a Cancer Network sponsored training programme and modified to address the needs of a larger client population of people experiencing psychological distress due to physical ill-health, this innovative workbook offers a basic introduction and guide to enable healthcare professionals to build an understanding of the relevance and application of CBT methods in everyday clinical practice.

From Ira Byock, prominent palliative care physician and expert in end of life decisions, a lesson in Dying Well. Nobody should have to die in pain. Nobody should have to die alone. This is Ira Byock's dream, and he is dedicating his life to making it come true. Dying Well brings us to the homes and bedsides of families with whom Dr. Byock has worked, telling stories of love and reconciliation in the face of tragedy, pain, medical drama, and conflict. Through the true stories of patients, he shows us that a lot of important emotional work can be accomplished in the final months, weeks, and even days of life. It is a companion for families, showing them how to deal with doctors, how to talk to loved ones—and how to make the end of life as meaningful and enriching as the beginning. Ira Byock is also the author of The Best Care Possible: A Physician's Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life.

This ground-breaking volume provides readers with both an overview of harm reduction therapy and a series of ten case studies, treated by different therapists, that vividly illustrate this treatment approach with a wide variety of clients. Harm reduction is a framework for helping drug and alcohol users who cannot or will not stop completely—the majority of users—reduce the harmful consequences of use. Harm reduction accepts that abstinence may be the best outcome for many but relaxes the emphasis on abstinence as the only acceptable goal and criterion of success. Instead, smaller incremental changes in the direction of reduced harmfulness of drug use are accepted. This book will show how these simple changes in emphasis and expectation have dramatic implications for improving the effectiveness of psychotherapy in many ways. From the Foreword by Alan Marlatt, Ph.D.: “This ground-breaking volume provides readers with both an overview of harm reduction therapy and a series of ten case studies, treated by different therapists, that vividly illustrate this treatment approach with a wide variety of clients. In his introduction, Andrew Tatarsky describes harm reduction as a new paradigm for treating drug and alcohol problems. Some would say that harm reduction embraces a paradigm shift in addiction treatment, as it has moved the field beyond the traditional abstinence-only focus typically associated with the disease model and the ideology of the twelve-step approach. Others may conclude that the move toward harm reduction represents an integration of what Dr. Tatarsky describes as the “basic principles of good clinical practice” into the treatment of addictive behaviors. “Changing addiction behavior is often a complex and complicated process for both client and therapist. What seems to work best is the development of a strong therapeutic alliance, the right fit between the client and treatment provider. The role of the harm reduction therapist is closer to that of a guide, someone who can provide support an

A comprehensive summary of the state-of-the-art of the field in clinical practice and research in the second decade of the 21th century Features future directions for research and clinical practice in integrative medicine and aging.

A practical, how-to-guide on choosing and delivering evidence-based psychological therapies to adults in later life. This book provides the latest, peer reviewed evidence for using psychotherapy among older adults, and will appeal to a wide range of readers including patients, caregivers, trainees and clinicians.