Perspectives on Loss and Trauma
Assaults on the Self
- John H. Harvey - Tiger Health Limited
With this book, John H. Harvey—widely acknowledged as a key founder of the field of loss and trauma—introduces this broad, interdisciplinary field to undergraduate and beginning graduate students. While many texts cover individual areas such as death and dying or stress and coping, none cover the diversity of loss events that Harvey does in this single volume. Perspectives on Loss and Trauma is the first undergraduate text to present major loss as an encompassing category that includes trauma, death and dying, and stress and coping. It reviews theory and research on the most challenging types of human loss and trauma:
- death and dying
- disease and injuries
- war and violence
- divorce and dissolution
- unemployment and homelessness
- the holocaust and genocide
Written in consideration of cross-cultural, international perspectives on loss, Perspectives on Loss and Trauma discusses relevant therapy approaches and emphasizes a story-telling approach to coping with major loss. It concludes with chapters on therapy and personal adjustment to loss, providing immediate applicability to counselors, therapists, social workers, and other human service professionals.
"The author has a particular perspective of loss and its consequences that is compelling and already has resulted in a substantial literature. . . . The reputation of the author is a strength that few, if any, social scientists can match . . . . His systematic investigation of loss from a variety of perspectives and in several modes (empirical and literary) bring a breadth of inquiry that has not been addressed in other volumes on the subject."
"The breadth of the treatment of loss and trauma is a major strength. To bring together the research on loss and trauma not limited to specific categories and place it in various theoretical contexts makes a valuable contribution to the literature."