ABSTRACT
Jim is a 57-year-old man whose wife, Susan, died a year ago after a lengthy struggle with cancer. They had been married for almost 35 years. Jim was devastated by the loss of Susan. He had worked as a high school teacher for over 30 years. After Susan’s death, he took a leave of absence from teaching because he was unable to concentrate and he could not focus on his work well. He found that most of his male friends were uncomfortable around him, and their talk about sports and general banter made him feel worse. Many of them suggested that the answer to his problems was to “drink more beer and get involved in watching hockey.” Jim was deeply lonely. He hated eating alone and the house they shared felt very empty. He sometimes would go to the closet and run his hands through Susan’s clothes that were still there. He found it difficult to sleep in the bed he had shared with Susan, so he now slept on the couch in front of the TV, which would stay on all night, providing him with noise and distraction so that he could sleep and not feel so alone. When he went to see a grief counselor, he said that he wanted help to “stop wallowing in self-pity” so that he could get back to work and “get on with things.”
