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.

Loss Due to Illness and Injury

Loss due to illness and injury

Life expectancy may drop to 30 in Africa.

—Headline from the AIDS Conference, July 2000

This headline reflects findings from a report given at the July 2000 AIDS Conference in South Africa. This report indicated that in sub-Saharan Africa, where three-quarters of all HIV-infected people live, 15 million people have died from the disease and 25 million more are infected.

In this chapter, I examine the special issues associated with aging, illness, and accidents occurring at relatively early points in a person's life. Aging is not a disease process. (In fact, as I argue, it may be viewed as a process leading to enhanced wisdom and ability to share stories of life with younger people.) Nonetheless, in ...

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