Contents:
A Theoretical Overview; The Why and Wherefore of Bereavement Support Groups; What is a Bereavement Support Group?; Why Have a Bereavement Support Group?; Getting Them to Come; Self-Generated Publicity; Outreach; Setting up a Bereavement Support Group; The Facilitator; Organisational Skills; Screening the Participants; Goals; Guidelines; Structured Bereavement Support Groups; Unstructured Bereavement Support Groups; Groups for Special Populations; Suicide Survivors; Survivors of Homicide Victims; Death by Drunken Driver; Death of a Child; Community Disaster; Children Grief Groups; Group Participants; Reference List.

In 1846, Edgar Allen Poe wrote that 'the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetic topic in the world'. The conjuction of death, art and femininity forms a rich and disturbing strata of Western culture, explored here in fascinating detail by Elisabeth Bronfen. Her examples range from Carmen to Little Nell, from Wuthering Heights to Vertigo, from Snow White to Frankenstein. The text is richly illustrated throughout with thirty-seven paintings and photographs. -- .

This companion provides an indispensable overview of contemporary and classical issues in social and cultural anthropology. Although anthropology has expanded greatly over time in terms of the diversity of topics in which its practitioners engage, many of the broad themes and topics at the heart of anthropological thought remain perennially vital, such as understanding order and change, diversity and continuity, and conflict and co-operation in the reproduction of social life. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, the contributors to this volume provide us with thoughtful and fruitful ways of thinking about a number of contemporary and long-standing arenas of work where both established and more recent researchers are engaged. The companion begins by exploring classic topics such as Religion; Rituals; Language and Culture; Violence; and Gender. This is followed by a focus on current developments within the discipline including Human Rights; Globalization; and Diasporas and Cosmopolitanism. It provides an interesting and challenging look at the state of current thinking in anthropology, serving as a rich resource for scholars and students alike.

Frequent assertions that death is taboo can be seen as evidence of a revival of interest in dying and bereavement. Traditional religious discourse lacks plausibility, yet modern medical and bureaucratic discourse fails to tally with the personal experience of many dying and bereaved individuals. The current revival, while reinstating some traditional practices and retaining professional expertise, seeks ultimate authority elsewhere: in the individual self. The new death is personal, facilitated by palliative care, the life-centred funeral, and bereavement counselling. How though are we to know how to die and to grieve? What role do professional carers and psychological theories play in shaping the experiences of dying and bereaved persons? How do such persons learn from each other? This book examines the revival and relates it to theories of modernity and postmodernity. Tony Walter edited "Pilgrimage in Popular Culture" (Macmillan, 1993) and is the author of "Funerals and How to Improve Them" (Hodder, 1990).

'Lacan's return to Freud' has been interpreted in past examinations as a vindication of Lacan as Freudian. In Essays on the Pleasure of Death, Ellie Ragland Sullivan clarifies the differences between concepts in Freud and Lacan and discusses the interconnectedness of both men's theories, while maintaining the crucial differences continue to exist. The author argues that Lacan's `return' gave coherence to concepts which Freud could never explain: psychosis, narcissism, the body and the death drive. Grounded in clinical experience, and drawing on Lacan's as-yet-untranslated seminars through 1981, Essays on the Pleasures of Death demonstrates to the reader the transformation and translation that Freud has undergone, and places him as a psychoanalyst - not a philosopher - in both theory and practice.

Talking about death is now fashionable, but how should we talk? Who should we listen to - priests, doctors, cousellors, or ourselves? Has psychology replaced religion in telling us how to die? This provocative book takes a sociological look at the revival of interest in death, focusing on the hospice movement and bereavement counselling. It will be required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of death and caring for the dying, the dead or bereaved.

Treatment of suicidal people takes three forms: prevention - strategies to avert conditions leading to suicide; intervention - treatment and care during the crisis; and postvention - response after the event has occurred. Unlike other current literature, here the focus is on the state of the art of intervention. This type of examination is essential, because suicidal people themselves are in need of such treatments - crisis intervention, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and hospitalization.

Written by professionals in the field, the Treatment of Suicidal People allows readers to participate in a learning experience. First is a case presentation of an individual - Arthur Inman - and his long road toward suicide, as chronicled in his personal diary. The seond section puts forth guidelines for the evaluation of suicide risk and crisis intervention. A focus on more sustained efforts in psychotherapy is next, a theme which is continued in the fourth part by addressing psychiatric issues that are essential for treatment of highly disturbed and lethal patients.

The following section examines a number of clinical and legal issues that transcend any one population of suicidal people, and any particular treatment approach or context. And lastly, the volume returns to Arthur Inman, with case consultations providing alternative perspectives and recommendations on his treatment. Suicide and related forms of self-injurious behaviour can be circumvented, if the involved professionals are sufficiently trained in assessment and prevention.

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides? looks at several of the most contentious issues in many societies. The book asks, whose rights are protected? How do these rights and protections change over time, and who makes those decisions? This book explores the fundamentally sociological processes which underlie the quest for morality and justice in human societies. The author sheds light on the social movements and social processes at the root of these seemingly personal moral questions. The third edition contains a new chapter on torture entitled, "Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering."

Georges Bataille is now recognized as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. Fascinated by the excessive movement of life, Bataille developed a complex philosophy based upon examination of the interplay between death and eroticism. For him, eroticism was the foundation of human experience, providing a sharp insight into the basis of human society and the response of the individual to it. Largely neglected during his lifetime, Bataille's influence has grown during the last thirty years, first in France and more recently in the UK and the US, where it has often been associated with the rise of post-structuralism and postmodernism. This text argues that his work is often misunderstood and conflated too readily with postmodernism; instead, the author treats Bataille as a multi-faceted thinker who does not fit in easily with any simple categorization.

Georges Bataille is now recognized as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. Fascinated by the excessive movement of life, Bataille developed a complex philosophy based upon examination of the interplay between death and eroticism. For him, eroticism was the foundation of human experience, providing a sharp insight into the basis of human society and the response of the individual to it. Largely neglected during his lifetime, Bataille's influence has grown during the last thirty years, first in France and more recently in the UK and the US, where it has often been associated with the rise of post-structuralism and postmodernism. This text argues that his work is often misunderstood and conflated too readily with postmodernism; instead, the author treats Bataille as a multi-faceted thinker who does not fit in easily with any simple categorization.

This highly original work provides a thought-provoking and valuable resource for researchers and academics with an interest in genocide, criminology, international organizations, and law and society. In her book, Caroline Fournet examines the law relating to genocide and explores the apparent failure of society to provide an adequate response to incidences of mass atrocity. The work casts a legal perspective on this social phenomenon to show that genocide fails to be appropriately remembered due to inherent defects in the law of genocide itself. The book thus connects the social response to the legal theory and practice, and trials in particular. Fournet's study illustrates the shortcomings of the Genocide Convention as a means of preventing and punishing genocide as well as its consequent failure to ensure the memory of this heinous crime.

Contents:
Part 1 Research Instruments: A Revised Death Anxiety scale; The Collett- Lester Fear of Death scale; The Threat Index and Related Methods; Validity and Reliability of Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale; The Death Attitude Profile-Revised DAP-R - A Multidimensional a Measure of Attitudes Towards Death; Death Competency - Bugen's Coping with Death Scale and Death Self-Efficacy. Part 2 Applications: Reduced Death Threat In Near-Death Experiences; Death Threat, Parental Loss, and Interpersonal Style - A Personal Construct Investigation; Death Depression and Death Anxiety In HIV Infected Males; Death Concern and Attitudes Toward the Elderly in Nursing Home - Personnel; Psychological Defences Against Death Anxiety; Changing Death Attitudes Through Death Education. Part 3 Conclusion: Death Attitudes In Adult Life - A Closing Coda.

Most aged in India are experiencing a highly protracted death in hospitals, entangled in tubes and machines. Such 'medicalised death' entails huge psychological, social and financial costs for both patients and their caregivers. There are also many who are dying in abject neglect. However, Government response to end-of-life care has been almost negligible and there is an acute information deficit on dying matters. This book examines different settings where elderly die, including hospitals, family homes and palliative set-ups. The discourse is set in the backdrop of international attempts to restructure and reconfigure the health delivery system for ageing population. It makes critical commentaries on global developments, offers state-of-art reviews of recent advances, substantiates and corroborates facts by personal narratives and case histories. The book overcomes a segmental understanding of the field by weaving various sociological, medical, legal and cultural issues together. Finally, the authors critically examine biomedicine's potential to meet the complex needs of the dying elderly. In an attempt to bring cultural sensitivity in end-of-life care, they explore the lost Indic 'art of dying' which has the potential to de- medicalise death. Increasing public sensitivity to poor dying conditions of the elderly in India and facilitating changes to improve care systems, this book also demonstrates the limitations of the western specialization of death. It will be of interest to academics in the field of Medical Sociology/Anthropology, Medicine, Palliative care, Public Health and Social Work, Social Policy and Asian Studies.

As the social world of American families feverishly changes, single-parent families, dual-career couples, and blended families have quickly become the norm rather than the exception. In Family Relations, a distinguished group of leading family researchers including Joan Huber, David Olson, Hamilton McCubbin, and Marilyn Coleman examines the social changes that have gripped society and explains their impact on family relationships and functioning. Initial chapters address principal theories of change; the remainder of the volume addresses the predominant challenges facing contemporary families such as work/family interface, violence, family dysfunction, family crisis, divorce, and the transition to marriage and parenthood. The contributors make suggestions for change in family policy, family therapy, and family life education, and conclude with an overview of the current state of families and future directions. This comprehensive and interesting volume is for students, family researchers, sociologists, psychologists, counselors, family life educators, and policy analysts. "True to its aim it informs about the latest understandings and tools of intervention to help overcome the formidable challenges to the family....there is some worthy scholarship to be found in this volume....chapter 3 on gender and role change is a lively and readable summary." --British Journal of Social Work "[This volume] has much to offer. For example, the volume contains demographic information often needed by practitioners and policymakers at a moment's notice. Literature reviews not only summarize research on a particular topic but also are organized around a theoretical framework. Well-known authors have contributed scholarly, insightful commentaries on current family issues and challenges for the future. In short, this book provides information that practitioners and policymakers could use to do the following: establish the need and rationale for programming and applied research, justify the expenditure of funds for children and families, ground their work in theory and research, conduct in-service education, and consider program evaluation strategies. . . . This book is well-written and provides a valuable resource for the intended readership. I look forward to the second volume." --Journal of Marriage and the Family

The third edition of Hospice and Palliative Care is the essential guide to the hospice and palliative care movement both within the United States and around the world. Chapters provide mental-health and medical professionals with a comprehensive overview of the hospice practice as well as discussions of challenges and the future direction of the hospice movement. Updates to the new edition include advances in spiritual assessment and care, treatment of prolonged and complicated grief, provision of interdisciplinary palliative care in limited-resource settings, significant discussion of assisted suicide, primary healthcare including oncology, and more. Staff and volunteers new to the field along with experienced care providers and those using hospice and palliative care services will find this essential reading.

Focused content, layout and price - Routledge competes and wins in relation to all of these factors - Craig Lind, University of Sussex, UK The best value and best format books on the market. - Ed Bates, Southampton University, UK Routledge Student Statutes present all the legislation students need in one easy-to-use volume. Developed in response to feedback from lecturers and students, this book offer a fully up-to-date, comprehensive, and clearly presented collection of legislation - ideal for LLB and GDL course and exam use. Routledge Student Statutes are: Exam Friendly: un-annotated and conforming to exam regulations Tailored to fit your course: 80% of lecturers we surveyed agree that Routledge Student Statutes match their course and cover the relevant legislation Trustworthy: Routledge Student Statutes are compiled by subject experts, updated annually and have been developed to meet student needs through extensive market research Easy to use: a clear text design, comprehensive table of contents, multiple indexes and highlighted amendments to the law make these books the most student-friendly Statutes on the market Competitively Priced: Routledge Student Statutes offer content and usability rated as good or better than our major competitor, but at a more competitive price Supported by a Companion Website: presenting scenario questions for interpreting Statutes, annotated web links, and multiple-choice questions, these resources are designed to help students to be confident and prepared.

Contents:
Theories on adaptation after bereavement; empirical research on bereavement; the Leiden Bereavement Study - objectives, method and response; the mode of death, kinship, and functioning after bereavement - empirical results; the structure of functioning; a prospective study on functioning; discussion.

The middle-aged women described within the chapters of "Common Threads" are ordinary yet extraordinary. They have faced one of life's greatest challenges, working day-in and day-out to design new lives for themselves. As readers witness the resilience of the human spirit, they come to a new perspective on their own experiences, recognizing the good still in their lives. "Common Threads" is a tender and warm embrace, a story of faith and love, of insight, determination, independence and strength. These women's large and small victories are metaphors for hope and continuity.

Seventy per cent of British families now choose cremation for their funerals, a rapid change in traditional death customs. This is the first book to investigate why cremation replaced burial. It examines the political, religious, economic and social reasons behind personal choice and sets them in a European context. This study is doubly timely with the expanding scholarly interest in death studies, and the new media interest in the British way of death.

Intended to supplement standard texts on death and dying, this book covers a range of issues, including the self, family, culture, institutions, suicide, and AIDS. The 78 structured activities motivate high-school and college-age students to do more reading, increase attendance, and become more active participants in class -- and to examine their own personal and cultural attitudes and assumptions about death.

Facing Death is a unique handbook for educators, healthcare professionals and counselors. It uses materials from the visual arts, excerpts from poetry, fiction, drama, and examples from popular culture to sensitize the reader to important, universal issues confronting the dying, and those responsible for their care.

In this unique book, Sidney Dekker tackles a largely unexplored dilemma. Our scientific age has equipped us ever better to explain why things go wrong. But this increasing sophistication actually makes it harder to explain why we suffer. Accidents and disasters have become technical problems without inherent purpose. When told of a disaster, we easily feel lost in the steely emptiness of technical languages of engineering or medicine. Or, in our drive to pinpoint the source of suffering, we succumb to the hunt for a scapegoat, possibly inflicting even greater suffering on others around us. How can we satisfactorily deal with suffering when the disaster that caused it is no more than the dispassionate sum of utterly mundane, imperfect human decisions and technical failures? Broad in its historical sweep and ambition, The End of Heaven is also Dekker's most personal book to date.

This work grew out of the International Conference on Children and Death held in Athens, Greece in October 1989. The conference brought together professionals from different cultures, backgrounds, theoretical perspectives and clinical settings to share their knowledge, insight and support in promoting the philosophy of death education, hospice care and bereavement support to children and families in need. Some of the questions addressed include: How can we educate children about death? How can we best support them when they are grieving? How can we best understand the bereavement process experienced by family members when a child dies?

Coming at a time of renewed interest in the developmental changes of the life cycle, Psychotherapy and the Widowed Patient is a rich resource that examines the impact of a spouse's death on an individual's mental health. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts address a wide range of issues concerning loss, grief, and bereavement, and provide practical and creative approaches for both widowed persons and the helping professionals charged with treating their grief. Chapters in this compassionate volume discuss the characteristics of individuals who are more likely to seek professional help in coping with grief, widowhood as a time of growth and development, the value of openness instead of denial in dealing with death, the grieving process in young widowed spouses, the similarities of widowhood to separation and divorce, the role of dependency in how well widowed patients develop emotionally, and the role of loyalty in the process of grief. The more clinical chapters examine strategies for carrying out experiential psychotherapy with widowed patients, rational-emotive therapy, grief therapy, the effects of new perspectives on spousal bereavement on clinical practice, and aspects of bereavement response to loss, with a timeframe for viewing psychotherapeutic intervention. A review of the psychological literature regarding widowhood completes this comprehensive new book.

Museums and Photography combines a strong theoretical approach with international case studies to investigate the display of death in various types of museums-history, anthropology, art, ethnographic, and science museums - and to understand the changing role of photography in museums. Contributors explore the politics and poetics of displaying death, and more specifically, the role of photography in representing and interpreting this difficult topic. Working with nearly 20 researchers from different cultural backgrounds and disciplines, the editors critically engage the recent debate on the changing role of museums, exhibition meaning-making, and the nature of photography. They offer new ways for understanding representational practices in relation to contemporary visual culture. This book will appeal to researchers and museum professionals, inspiring new thinking about death and the role of photography in making sense of it.