Working With the Bereaved

Working With the Bereaved summarizes the major themes in bereavement research and clinical work and uses the authors' own cutting-edge research to show mental-health practitioners how to integrate these themes into their practice. It provides clinicians with a framework for exploring their own emotional and intellectual assumptions about loss and bereavement, and it goes on to summarize state-of-the-art thinking in the field. The heart of the book focuses on the theoretical and clinical implications of the empirically validated Two-Track Model of Bereavement, as well as a variety of therapeutic techniques designed to help the bereaved both reapproach life and manage their continuing bonds with the deceased. The later chapters examine methods for integrating systems and family perspectives in therapy, for attending to the implications of culture and religion, and for meeting crises and emergencies in bereavement care. The concluding chapter addresses self-care, well-being, and resilience, offering practical guidelines for both the bereaved and those who treat them.

Simon Shimshon Rubin is professor of clinical psychology and director of the International Center for the Study of Loss, Bereavement and Human Resilience at the University of Haifa in Israel. Chairman of the Postgraduate Program in Psychotherapy, he has lectured and published extensively on bereavement, ethics, and psychotherapy. Ruth Malkinson is adjunct senior lecturer at the Bob Shapell School of Social Work at Tel Aviv University. She is the director of the Israeli Center of REBT. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in cognitive grief therapy and is the author of Cognitive Grief Therapy: Constructing a Rational Meaning to Life Following Loss (2007). Eliezer Witztum is professor in the Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is director of Psychotherapy Supervision at the Mental Health Center, Beer Sheva, and senior psychiatrist at the Community Mental Health Center of Ezrat Nashim Hospital in Jerusalem. A prolific writer, he has written more than 200 scientific publications and 10 books. The authors have been writing together for many years and have published Loss and Bereavement in Israel and Traumatic and Nontraumatic Loss and Bereavement as well as numerous articles.

Part I: Choosing Life After Loss. Love - and Loss - and Life. Current Perspectives on Bereavement. Part II: The Two-Track Model of Bereavement: Continuing Bonds and Continuing With Life. Introduction to the Theory and Clinical Applications of the Two-Track Model of Bereavement. Clinical Theory and Practice at the Interface of Trauma and Bereavement. The Relational Traumas of Bereavement. Therapeutic Work With the Relationship to the Deceased. Part III: Integrating Various Therapeutic Approaches With Insights From the Two-Track Model of Bereavement. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Traditional and Relational Aspects of the Encounter. A Cognitive Behavior Approach: Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Cognitive Therapy: Applying Imagery and Mindfulness. Strategic Integrative Interventions: Applying Letter Writing, Leave-taking Rituals, and Metaphor. Systemic Family Grief Therapy. Part IV: Expanding Horizons: Culture, Clinical Challenges, and Facilitating Resilience. The Social-cultural Contexts of Loss: Considerations for Culturally Sensitive Interventions. Emergencies in Complications Following Loss. Growth and Resilience: Considerations for Clients and Therapists. Appendix: The Two-Track Bereavement Questionnaire (TTBQ2-70) 227.