Books about Loss and Grieving
Reviewed by

Jan Fable, MS, LADC
Fairfield Connecticut
203.255.5055

Short-term Counseling for Individuals and Couples;
12 Step Recovery Support and Intervention Services;
and Career Coaching

And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart: Moving from Despair to Meaning after the Death of a Child. Mathes, Charlotte. Published by Chiron Publications 2007. Mathes, a Jungian psychoanalyst, suffered a parent's worst nightmare--the death of her child. This book describes her struggle to find meaning and wholeness and the journey which led her to Jungian archetypal psychology and to a desire to help others come to terms with the profound grief and loss inherent in such an event. She guides the reader through steps and archetypes that mark the process of mourning and offers practical resources that help parents regain perspective and learn how and where to reach out for help.


Good Grief Rituals: Tools for Healing. Childs-Gowell, Elaine. Published in paperback by Station Hill Press, 1992. This is a wonderful little book filled with rituals to help the healing along. It's another one I often loan to my clients when the time is right.


Heartwounds. Dayton, Tian. Published by Health Communications, 1997. Tian Dayton is a psychotherapist and practitioner and teacher of psychodrama. Her book is an excellent experiential guide for exploring the minefield of painful unresolved trauma and grief within each of us. With the help of Dayton's clear understanding and communication of the process of grieving and the effect of trauma on our minds, bodies and spirit, it is possible to discover a new energy for resolution and growth.


How to Survive the Loss of a Love. Colgrove, Melba; Harold H. Bloomfield; Peter McWilliams. Published in paperback by Prelude Press, 1993. This is a truly helpful book on the subject of loss. This honest, realistic and compassionate work was first published in 1976. To order

I Will Not Be Broken: 5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis. Jerry White. Published by St. Martin's Press. 2008. In 1984 the author lost a leg--and almost his life--in a landmine accident. As founder of Survivor Corps, he has interviewed thousands of victims of tragedy and, in this book, shares what he's learned about coming back from life's worst setbacks. Whatever the tragedy: the loss of a loved one, a serious illness, or a devastating illness, White offers help to recove, survive and thrive.

Loss of the Assumptive World, A Theory of Traumatic Loss. Kauffman, Jeffrey, ed. Published by Brunner-Routledge. 2002. In the face of trauma, our assumptive world -- the world experienced as normal and predictable -- is seriously disrupted. This disruption functions as a metaphor for traumatic loss in this book, providing extraordinary insight into the psychology of trauma, loss and change. This scholarly work which examines the psychological disturbance that takes place in the wake of a traumatic event. The authors in this collection look at the loss of the assumptive world from diverse theoretical perspectives.


Necessary Losses. Viorst, Judith. Published in paperback by Simon & Schuster, 1997. The author traces the separations and losses that mark life's passages, such as the loss at birth of 'oneness' with our mothers, the loss of childhood as we become adults, the loss of illusions about marriage and friendships, and losses resulting from aging and death. She argues that we can only grow emotionally and psychologically by confronting these losses. Viorst draws on psychoanalytic theories of child development, the writings of poets and philosophers, as well as on her own insights and interpretations.


The Year of Magical Thinking. Didion, Joan. Published byAlfred A. Knopf, 2005. This memoir is about loss and grief and the struggle to stay grounded in some kind of sanity when everything known seems to be uprooted. It begins with these words: "Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." It will resonate with anyone who has ever loved a husband, wife or child.

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JanFable has worked as a psychotherapist for more than 25 years. She has a master's degree in counseling and is a Connecticut licensed drug and alcohol counselor. Her primary training is in Bioenergetic Analysis which deals with the whole person. She has extensive training in the treatment of dissociative disorders and trauma survivors and in using of altered states of consciousness in healing. She has also completed Level I and Level II training in Thought Field Therapy.

Jan's training and experience expanded.

Jan Fable
203.255-5055
Fairfield, Connecticut

If you want to contact me, you can email me at JFable at forhealing.org
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