Grief Demystified

Grief Demystified
By Caroline Lloyd

This is a short but lucid introduction to theories of grief and how people grieve.

In general, I think this book is directed more towards those who are working with grieving individuals or bereaved people who are interested in theory.

There is a section on what to say/ how to help bereaved people that may be helpful for the general reader, but I think that many people wanting this information will probably resort to the internet.

The author is keen to explain that all bereavements are different because the nature of the loss is individual. She is also clearly debunks the Kubler- Ross model that many people misinterpret and think is a linear “roadmap” to grief. For example “I’ve worked through Denial and now I’m on to…” This model is now commonly held to be out of date.

She uses more recent models of grief (with the oft repeated proviso that still an individual’s experience will not “fit” into a model) to explain common threads /patterns /behaviours. This was helpful for me as there has been more research since I did my counselling and bereavement training that is helpfully summarised here.

This she does in an accessible way summarising the main points so that there is not too much theory. I am glad that she touches on the often ignored physical aspects of grieving.

Also she looks at Bereavement “online” with useful practical advice on Facebook, Twitter accounts etc. which is not often reflected in books on grief. This is a strong point of this book.

This is a useful book to add to the canon of grief books but I am not sure in the end about its target audience.