How to grieve and maintain your sanity. A rational and compassionate approach to bereavement. Non-religious individuals who are experiencing grief need a resource that they can turn to as they process their grief. They need a resource that will help them cope, as Humanists, with the emotional trauma that is the grieving process. This is that book. While there has been a lot written about grief, not much has been written from an explicitly Humanist perspective. The needs of a Humanist, while grieving, are slightly different from others because Humanists, being rationalists, refuse to allow themselves to be comforted by the false hope of reunion that is a staple of religious belief. I decided to write this book to help people who are experiencing grief come to terms with it in a rational and compassionate way. After presiding over my first funeral as a Humanist officiant, I realized that a book on Humanist grief was needed. I felt the pain the bereaved were feeling and I longed to be able to provide them comfort. I know that Humanism provides an excellent framework for coping with grief, but it is impossible to share all that I know about how Humanists approach grief during a funeral. It also wouldn't do much good even if I could. The bereaved need ongoing support because grief is a process that takes time.

Gift of Tears is intended for anyone who finds they have to cope, in the course of their daily lives, with the grief of others. It will prove invaluable to counsellors, therapists, mental health professionals and all those helping the bereaved.

The process of grief does not change a person as much as it reveals another part of the self. Life After Loss: Contemporary Grief Counseling and Therapy is a reader friendly book with tools, techniques, and compass points to help others with the experience of grief. Going beyond the well-known but outmoded stage theories of grief, this book explores and illustrates new models of treatment, applying them to the lived experience of bereaved clients. Best applied practices are examined, and the book quickly becomes a ‘go-to’ resource for typical and complicated facilitation of grief. Topics include:Clinical practices for natural and complicated grief processesWhat went wrong with Kubler-Ross’ stage theory of griefThe functions of emotions in griefThe impact of death on the familyDeath, grief, and spiritualityLoneliness and isolationThe social and cultural ceremonies of deathMeaning making and growth following loss

The Meaning of Grief seeks to capture the dramatic nature of grief by reconstructing the common story of people who have grieved. It provides a holistic approach to understanding the wisdom of experience in the context of human life. The book offers an original exploration of grief as a significant human emotion and introduces a unique method for the study of emotions in general. Through a detailed examination of individual accounts of grief, common themes are identified and woven into a dramatic composition, one that resembles the structure of a rite of passage. The volume carefully develops two basic units for description and investigation, considers emotions generally in light of what has been discovered concerning grief, and poses new questions about the nature of emotions.

The loss of a loved one is one of the most painful experiences that most of us will ever have to face in our lives. This book recognises that there is no single solution to the problems of bereavement but that an understanding of grief can help the bereaved to realise that they are not alone in their experience. Long recognised as the most authoritative work of its kind, this new edition has been revised and extended to take into account recent research findings on both sides of the Atlantic. Parkes and Prigerson include additional information about the different circumstances of bereavement including traumatic losses, disasters, and complicated grief, as well as providing details on how social, religious, and cultural influences determine how we grieve. Bereavement provides guidance on preparing for the loss of a loved one, and coping after they have gone. It also discusses how to identify the minority in whom bereavement may lead to impairment of physical and/or mental health and how to ensure they get the help they need. This classic text will continue to be of value to the bereaved themselves, as well as the professionals and friends who seek to help and understand them.

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/

Through a critical analysis of theory, policy and practice, The Public and Private Management of Grief looks at how 'recovery' is the prevailing discourse that measures and frames how people grieve, and considers what happens when people 'fail' to recover. Pearce draws on in-depth interviews with bereaved people and a range of bereavement professionals, to contemplate how ‘failures’ to recover are socially perceived and acted upon. Grounded in Foucauldian theory, this book problematises the notion of recovery, and instead argues for the acknowledgment of the experience of ‘non-recovery,’ highlighting how recovery is a socially and historically constructed notion linked to the individualised vision of health and happiness promoted by neo-liberal governmentality. This book will be of interest to students and scholars across sociology, anthropology, social work and psychology with a focus on death, dying and bereavement, grief studies, health and social care, as well as counsellors, clinical psychologists and social workers.

Grieving Beyond Gender: Understanding the Ways Men and Women Mourn is a revision of Men Don’t Cry, Women Do: Transcending Gender Stereotypes of Grief. In this work, Doka and Martin elaborate on their conceptual model of "styles or patterns of grieving" – a model that has generated both research and acceptance since the publication of the first edition in 1999. In that book, as well as in this revision, Doka and Martin explore the different ways that individuals grieve, noting that gender is only one factor that affects an individual’s style or pattern of grief. The book differentiates intuitive grievers, where the pattern is more affective, from instrumental grievers, who grieve in a more cognitive and behavioral way, while noting other patterns that might be more blended or dissonant. The model is firmly grounded in social science theory and research. A particular strength of the work is the emphasis placed on the clinical implications of the model on the ways that different types of grievers might best be supported through individual counseling or group support.

Grief and its Transcendence: Memory, Identity, Creativity is a landmark contribution that provides fresh insights into the experience and process of mourning. It includes fourteen original essays by pre-eminent psychoanalysts, historians, classicists, theologians, architects, art-historians and artists, that take on the subject of normal, rather than pathological mourning. In particular, it considers the diversity of the mourning process; the bereavement of ordinary vs. extraordinary loss; the contribution of mourning to personal and creative growth; and individual, social, and cultural means of transcending grief. The book is divided into three parts, each including two to four essays followed by one or two critical discussions. Co-editor Adele Tutter’s Prologue outlines the salient themes and tensions that emerge from the volume. Part I juxtaposes the consideration of grief in antiquity with an examination of the contemporary use of memorials to facilitate communal remembrance. Part II offers intimate first-person accounts of mourning from four renowned psychoanalysts that challenge long-held psychoanalytic formulations of mourning. Part III contains deeply personal essays that explore the use of sculpture, photography, and music to withstand, mourn, and transcend loss on individual, cultural and political levels. Drawing on the humanistic wisdom that underlies psychoanalytic thought, co-editor Léon Wurmser’s Epilogue closes the volume. Grief and its Transcendence will be a must for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and scholars within other disciplines who are interested in the topics of grief, bereavement and creativity.

Loss, Grief and Existential Awareness introduces the Integrated Process Model (IPM), a new interdisciplinary and interprofessional model for grief research, education, and accompaniment that distinguishes and integrates five dimensions of grief: physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual. Central in this book is the insight that grief is connected to love because it is rooted in losing what is meaningful and dear to us. Once we recognize this, grief can become a window to existential awareness. Combining research on the physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual dimensions of grief, the integrated process approach connects this quest for a personal and authentic answer to the big questions in life with the philosophical and therapeutic tradition of existential thinking. Structured in an accessible, informative manner with gradual information building, the book presents the IPM approach at the beginning and then turns to it as a model throughout the book, so the reader gradually will start to deepen their understanding and memorize the framework. The structure is enhanced with boxes with existential reflections and exercises to engage the reader and case presentations of grieving persons who are followed throughout the book. This book is meant for everyone who is interested in a deeper understanding of how loss and grief can help opening the door to a more meaningful way of living. It is especially helpful for healthcare professionals, therapists, counsellors, chaplains, and researchers.