Bereavement: Its Psychosocial Aspects

Abstract

This collection of articles—funded by the Foundation of Thanatology and various government grants—is intended primarily to persuade us of the need for more research and "professional" counseling in thanatology. To educate the public on the problems related to this field, the essays deal with issues such as the importance of grief in the growth process, the physiological effects of bereavement, special problems of widows and widowers, withdrawal in orphaned children, and reactions to unexpected or untimely death. An entire section is devoted to the role of health professionals and another to therapeutic intervention in bereavement. Its volume and range of subjects notwithstanding, this book is fast reading. The findings, in all too many instances, amount to little more than common sense. Item: "more spouses and parents tended to have intense reactions [to the death] than did other relatives"; or "sleep disturbances and weight loss [were observed] in the widowed in