ABSTRACT

How we cope with grief and come to terms with the death of a loved one shapes our world. In this comprehensive guide to the mourning process, Dr Volkan, a world-recognised authority on grief, shows how each mourning is as individualised as our fingerprints, encoded with our past history of losses. Anecdotal and compassionate, this is a profoundly moving and informative study of how grief and loss shape all our lives.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

part ONE|33 pages

Uncomplicated Mourning

chapter I|14 pages

Crisis Grief

The Hour of Lead

chapter II|12 pages

The Work of Mourning

Assessing the Relationship and Letting Go

chapter III|5 pages

Brutal Gifts

Loss as a Vehicle for Growth

part TWO|71 pages

Complicated Mourning

chapter IV|16 pages

Risk Factors

Circumstances That Complicate

chapter V|9 pages

Stuck in Denial

When Crisis Grief Goes Awry

chapter VI|14 pages

Perennial Mourners

When Loss Has No Resolution

chapter VII|8 pages

Engulfed Mourners

When Grief Turns to Depression

chapter VIII|21 pages

A Death in the Family

How Parents and Children Mourn

part THREE|29 pages

Resolutions

chapter IX|17 pages

Adaptations and Therapy

chapter X|9 pages

Creative Resolutions

When Grief Inspires