In the face of trauma, our assumptive world - the world experienced as normal or predictable - is seriously disrupted. This disruption, this loss of our assumptive world functions as a metaphor for traumatic loss in this volume, providing extraordinary insight into the psychology of trauma, loss and change. Loss of the Assumptive World: A Theory of Traumatic Loss builds on Ronnie Janoff-Bulman's new psychology of trauma and Colin Murray Parkes' principle of psychosocial change. It is a concept that allows for the close examination of the psychological disturbance that takes place in the wake...

The book contributes to an awareness of the significance of loss in the life experience of persons with mental retardation. Experiencing loss may be a very powerful vulnerability in their mental or psychological life, and dealing with this loss is a basic element in psychological health. There has been an enormous hole in the death and dying literature and in the mental retardation literature on the mourning behavior and needs of persons with mental retardation. This book fills that hole, and lays a foundation for grief support services, establishes standards of practice and care, and is an...

All of us who work in the field of death and dying are, beyond our projects and our practices, working on our awareness of our own mortality. This richly stimulating collection of original articles challenges the reader to develop a disciplined and focused awareness of his/her own mortality, and to grapple with the implications. "Awareness of Mortality" contributes to the basic and passionate intellectual quest for meaning in thanatology. It provokes the reader with a wide range of ideas and thinking styles to deepen the questioning process within his/her own self. "Awareness of Mortality"...