Clinical Handbook for Trauma and Grief Management

Trauma and grief are inherent human phenomena, highly personal, usually hidden, and metamorphic. Experiences in early childhood, or brought about by interpersonal relationships, or due to unforeseen events in life, these experiences have their trace that can affect emotional health, thoughts, and mental relation throughout life. Research outcomes have accumulated over the years in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience to demonstrate the prevalence of the effects of trauma and loss and simultaneously the capacity to heal individuals given the proper knowledge and tools and therapeutic care.

This book has been designed in a way that makes it a multipurpose or evidence based guide to mental health professionals, psychology students, educators, caregivers, and anyone keen in learning the intricacies of trauma and bereavement. Based on the decades of clinical practice and the research works in the field of psychology and multidisciplinary approaches, the authors develop a systematic, rational, and very practical scheme of how to identify, evaluate, and manage challenges related to trauma among children, adolescents, and adults. The book has been structured in a manner that enables the reader to be guided at a slow pace on the basics of the therapy and the techniques used by psychologists in therapy. The principles, nature, and neuropsychological mechanisms behind trauma and grief are revealed at an early stage. Next, the following parts present the assessment instruments, symptomology, and the clinically relevant types of behavioral patterns that aid the professional in making the recognition accurate. Lastly, the therapeutic modules provide an abundant environment of the classical and modern interventions, from cognitive-behavioral, relaxation-based to narrative therapy, guided imagery and logotherapeutic wisdom. The beauty of this book is in that it is not excessively scientific and at the same time is useful. The theories about development, practical examples of the case, and practical exercises that the clinicians may adopt directly on their session have been really well incorporated by the authors. It is not only to explain such things as trauma and grief; it also tries to shed light on the avenues of coping, sense-making, and post-traumatic development.

We believe that this book may not only make the practice richer, but also spur the interest to understand the human ability to get through the adversity. Hopefully it can be the guide that practitioners continue to refer to, it is the strength of the students and the reassurance to the personnel who have been struggling with how to assist the people that are in their hardest experiences ever.