Loss, Grief and Existential Awareness: An Integrative Approach

Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Preface
1 Loss as the ultimate limitation of human existence
	What this book is about
	An integrative grief model
	The ambiguity of loss
	Loss and grief as access to existential awareness
	Living the questions in the paradoxes of loss
	If we are not getting through grief, then how to understand the process?
	Central points in Chapter 1
2 The integrative process model of loss and grief
	Developing a grief muscle
	Basic existential tensions in grief
	Standing on the shoulders of the different understandings in grief research
	A brief visit to the understanding of the phenomenon of grief over time
	There is a need to move the understanding of loss and grief forward
	The development of the integrative process model (IPM)
	Total grief
	The integrative process model of loss and grief (IPM)
	Central points in Chapter 2
	Prelude: Meet Ann, a grieving woman
3 The physical dimension. Why me?
	We grieve with our bodies
	Finding your foothold again
	Living the question: why me?
	When you mourn one loss, you mourn all your losses
	Every loss confronts us with our own death
	Our struggle to surrender to loss
	What is carpe diem without memento mori?
	Wounds are eyes
	Vulnerability as superpower
	Central points in Chapter 3
	Interlude: Ann’s struggle with the physical dimension of the loss
4 The emotional dimension. What can I do?
	A hundred words for grief
	The myth that feelings tell the truth
	Living the question: What can I do?
	The tension between doing and being
	Random acts of kindness and self-compassion
	The transformative potential of emotional regulation
	Central points in Chapter 4
	Interlude: Ann’s struggle with the emotional dimension of the loss
5 The cognitive dimension. What have I lost?
	Magical thinking
	The cognitive expression of grief
	Grief as a learning process
	Where is our consciousness when we grieve?
	Living the question: What have I lost?
	Living loss
	The impossible question of meaning
	Bodily awareness
	Consciousness is a tension between reflection and body
	Getting to know your grief
	The unfinished and the unlived
	The transformative potential of cognitive flexibility
	Central points in Chapter 5
	Interlude: Ann’s struggle with the cognitive dimension of loss
6 The social dimension. How can I be connected?
	When we express our grief, we show the world who we are
	Grief as supreme expression of life?
	The social dimension of grief
	Solitude
	Existential loneliness
	Living the question: How can I be connected?
	Integration of past and future
	Continuation of the emotional bond
	Grief is a tension between letting go and holding on
	Longing—what does it want from me?
	The transformative potential of connectedness
	Central points in Chapter 6
	Interlude: Ann’s struggle with the social dimension of loss
7 The spiritual dimension. Can I believe in life again?
	The big question of spirituality
	The spiritual dimension and its tensions
	Meaning and resonance
	Rituals
	Loss as a window to existential values
	Living the question: Can I believe in life again?
	The transformative potential of finding meaning
	Central points in Chapter 7
	Interlude: Ann’s struggle with the spiritual dimension of loss
8 Living our loss
	Our loss aversion gets in the way
	Loss can turn into growth
	The transformative potential of loss
	Imbalances in grief
	Grief disorder
	Facilitating the integrative understanding of grief
	To live the questions in loss and grief
	Central points in Chapter 8
	Postlude: Ann’s balance in loss and grief
References
Index