How We Grieve: Relearning the World Book

If we wish to understand loss experiences, we must learn details of survivors' stories. In this book Attig tells tales of survival to illustrate the poignant disruption of life and suffering that loss entails. He shows how through grieving we meet daunting challenges, make choices, and reshape our lives. These intimate treatments of coping with loss address the needs of grieving people and those who hope to support and comfort them. The accounts promote understanding of grieving itself, encourage respect for individuality and the uniqueness of loss experiences, show how to deal with helplessness in the face of "choiceless" events, and offer guidance for caregivers. Grieving is not a process of passively living through stages. Nor is it a clinical problem to be solved or managed by others. The book shows that grieving is an active, coping process of relearning how to be and act in a world where loss transforms the fabric of our lives. Loss challenges us to relearn things and places; relationships with others, including fellow survivors, the deceased, and even God; and our selves, including our daily life patterns and the meanings of our life stories.