This book examines and describes aspects of acute grief that are peculiar to those who have lost an adult son or daughter. The essays in this volume express the view of scholars, clinicians, social workers, and individuals who have personally experienced the loss of an adult child. Each contributor describes his or her experiences within the scope of thanatology itself--a discipline whose focus is on the practice of supportive physical and emotional care for those whose lives are threatened, with an equal concern exhibited for the well-being of their family members. A philosopy of caregiving is proposed that reinforces alternative ways of enhancing the quality of life; introduces methods of intervention on behalf of the emotional status of all involved; and fosters a more mature understanding of the dying process and the problems of seperation, loss, bereavement, and grief.

Physicians and other helping professionals have created a practical, hands-on book that will aid in the identification and reduction of job stress. Nurses, physicians, thanatologists, and psychotherapists are among the growing number of health care professionals whose physical and mental health are being severely affected by work stress. This unique volume achieves what no earlier book has attempted for this specialized professional group. It offers a thorough understanding of professional burnout, elaborating how burnout develops and offering a model with which to identify job stressors. Professional Burnout in Medicine and the Helping Professions also offers an in-depth exploration of stress and burnout issues from the perspectives of specific medical and helping profession disciplines--physicians, nurses, social workers, psychotherapists, teachers, consultants, agency and hospital workers, funeral directors, and more.Experts in these fields examine the values, ethics, and morality of individuals, health care organizations, and society that may lead to burnout This in-depth and highly practical volume identifies the stages of disillusionment and offers successful intervention strategies for recognizing the signs and reducing or efficiently managing causative factors.