Bookshop: Bereavement - theory and practice

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The following books are available from the St Christopher's bookshop. For further information and details please contact the Librarian, St Christopher's Hospice

Blackman L

Loss and learning disability

Worth Publishing 2003
£18.99

Examines how people with learning disabilities can be affected by loss and bereavement. Includes pro-active strategies to prevent grief complications and therapeutic interventions for helping people when the grief process "goes wrong".

Dyregrov K, Dyregrov A

Effective grief and bereavement support

Jessica Kingsley 2008
£19.99

Contents:

1. Introduction.
2. How does sudden death affect the close bereaved?
3. What types of support do the bereaved encounter and what do they want?
4. Children and young people - Their situation and help needs.
5. How does sudden death affect social networks?
6. Social network support - Challenges and solutions.
7. The main principles behind good network support.
8. What kind of support can family and friends give?
9. What kind of support can school and workplace provide?
10. When should professional help be brought in?
11. Support for the social network. 
12. Appendix. References. Subject index. Author index.

Firth P, Luff G, Oliviere D (eds)

Loss, change and bereavement in palliative care

Open University Press, 2005
£22.99

This book brings together contemporary theoretical thinking on loss and bereavement supported by the experience of experts and clinicians practising in the field. It is divided into three sections – historical and socio-economic context; settings, structures and management; interventions – the book covers a comprehensive range of issues associated with loss and bereavement, which aim to link theory with practice.

Graves D

Talking with bereaved people: an approach for structured and sensitive communication

Jessica Kingsley 2009
£17.99

The author works at Compton Hospice in Wolverhampton. The core of the book consists of seven elements that can form the basis for working with bereaved people – 1)there is a story 2)there is a relationship 3)there is a life to celebrate 4) there is a legacy left behind 5)there is a strategy for coping 6)there is a journey undertaken 7)there are difficult issues to explore.

This is a helpful, practical book for working with bereaved people.

Hockey J, Katz J, Small N (eds)

Grief, mourning and death ritual

Open University Press, 2001.
£25.99

This edited book focuses on what happens after a death has taken place. Drawing on social theory and anthropology, contributors examine responses to death as they occur today. The book critically reviews the ways grief, mourning and death ritual have been approached by academics and practitioners. It also includes commentaries on bereavement work and on changes in both the funeral industry and memorialization practices.

Machin L

Working with loss and grief: a new model for practitioners

Sage 2009
£20.99

The author has developed a new model of grief called Ranges of Response to Loss Model. She has identified three main responses to loss – people who tend to feel overwhelmed, those that feel able to face their loss and those that operate in a controlled way. They are linked to other models of loss and many case studies are included. Some of the 10 chapters provide a flavour of the book: exploring the landscape of loss, establishing theoretical and therapeutic bearings, the new model, listening to grief narratives, resilience and vulnerability. The final chapter focuses on the effect of the work on those involved in bereavement counselling.

Parkes CM, Prigerson H.

Bereavement: studies of grief in adult life. 4th edition

Routledge, 2010
£39.99

This is regarded as a classic text and while much remains of the original research, it also now encompasses references to key research on grief and bereavement. This is particularly reflected in the new chapter on complicated grief.

Parkes Colin Murray

Love and loss. The roots of grief and its complications

Routledge 2006 (Paperback version 2008)
£19.99

This is the result of a lifetime's work. It covers a)patterns of attachment and patterns of grief, b) loss of a parent, child or spouse in adult life and c)social isolation and support. It concludes by looking at disorders of attachment and considers bereavement in terms of its implications on love, loss and change in a wider context. It includes references to the extensive research and clinical work of Dr Parkes who has worked in close association with St Christopher's since its foundation.

Riches G, Dawson P

An intimate loneliness. Supporting bereaved parents and siblings

Open University Press, 2000
£24.99

Written by a sociology lecturer and a bereavement services coordinator in the UK, this book explores the diverse family reactions to the death of an offspring or brother or sister. Coming to terms with such a great loss depends partly on the strength of the family itself, partly on the inner strength and the social support available to each individual member of the family. Subjects covered include the often ''invisible'' grief of fathers and siblings, lack of information and sudden or ''difficult'' deaths.

Walter Tony

On bereavement

Open University Press 1999
£23.99

This stimulating book on the sociology of grief is a critique of both the positive and negative aspects of theories of grief and grief counselling. In particular the author considers that bereaved people find themselves caught between the living and the dead, sometimes searching for guidelines, sometimes finding their grief inappropriately pathologized and “policed”.

Worden JW

Grief counselling and grief therapy. 4th edition.

Routledge 2010
£19.95

This is a classic text on working with bereaved people. The author has incorporated recent research into his original model and provides some interesting comments on these. Chapters include a)The mourning process, mediators of mourning b) suggested “tasks” of mourning c)facilitating uncomplicated grief d)abnormal grief reactions.