Retelling Violent Death

Violent death, whether by homicide, suicide, or accident, is particularly traumatic for the family and surrounding community of the deceased. Unlike natural dying from disease or old age, someone is responsible for a violent death, and the family and community cannot rest until the dying is explained, until the perpetrator is identified and justice and order are re-established. Often, a spectacled story of the death eclipses the memory of the person’s life: family members remain mired in the retelling of the death and cannot fully reengage in their own living. In Retelling Violent Death , Edward K. Rynearson presents a strategy for restorative retelling that is based upon his thirty years of clinical practice and research with family members after a violent death as well as his own personal experience after his wife’s suicide. In addition to a clear outline of this model for encouraging resilience, the book includes clinical interventions and case studies, as well as coverage of restorative retelling with children and adolescents, extant literature on violent dying, and the design and establishment of support groups and programs for those affected by violent death.
Written from a highly engaging and uniquely personal perspective, Retelling Violent Death is an important resource for family members and clinicians who seek to help them in the aftermath of this devastating and life-changing event. It provides hope that there is a way to survive and accommodate a violent death, to begin and continue the self-transformation that makes survival possible.

Author Biography

Edward K. Rynearson, MD, is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington, and Medical Director of the Homicide Support Project at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. He has thirty years of experience in research and clinical practice in helping grief-stricken family members.