Family Focused Grief Therapy

The family are intimately involved in the care of the dying and themselves require support through their experience of both palliative care and bereavement. This volume describes a comprehensive model of family care and how to go about it – an approach which is new, preventive, cost effective and with proven benefits to the bereaved. The book has been designed rather like a therapy manual, providing a step-by-step approach to assessment and intervention. Its rich illustration through many clinical examples brings the process of therapy alive for the reader, anticipating the common challenges that arise and describing how the therapist might respond. Families are recognised throughout as a central social unit, pivotal to the success of palliative care. This title should be of use to doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pastoral care workers, psychiatrists and other allied health professionals who work in caring for the dying and for their bereaved relatives. Based soundly on a decade of internationally regarded research, this book will alter the direction of future medical practice and is destined to become a classic in its field.

Author Biography

David Kissane is Professor/Director of Palliative Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, President of The International Psycho-Oncology Society and an internationally renowned psycho-oncologist, bereavement researcher and clinician.

Sidney Bloch has a personal Chair in Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, is an internationally regarded teacher and has authored several books on psychotherapy, ethics and families.