BOOK
Counselling and Psychotherapy for Families in Times of Illness and Death
(2011)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Living with serious illness can have profound emotional effects both on patients themselves and on those close to them. With clarity and compassion, this text explores the difficulties and dilemmas those who are ill and their families face, offering specific guidelines for the professionals who work with them.
Building on its successful first edition, this text draws on recent developments in research and clinical practice in providing a theoretical and practical framework for working with illness. Thoroughly revised in its second edition, this book:
• Features new chapters on the cultural constructs of illness, working with migrant families, illness in later life, death and palliative care and supervision
• Explores issues of working with diversity, covering gender, class, race and sexuality
• Discusses the impact of working with those facing serious illness on health care professionals, offering strategies for reducing the risks of burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatisation
Written by a recognized expert in the field, this innovative and challenging book provides essential insights for professionals working or training to work with those facing illness and death, including doctors, nurses, counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists and social workers.
JENNY ALTSCHULER is a Consultant Clinical psychologist and Family Psychotherapist. She formerly worked at the Tavistock Clinic, where she set up the first UK multi-disciplinary family based training for professionals working in health care settings. She is now Clinical Director of the One to One Children's Fund and also works as an independent psychotherapist and supervisor to health professionals.
The book is erudite, thoughtful, compassionate, well-researched and full of practical and philosophical suggestions that may hlep the patient, carer and professional find a more useful and meaningful way to navigate the bewildering world of illness and death. I recommend it whole-heartedly' - Therapy Today
'...succinct and clear...with practical advice and guidance for practitioners written in a sensitive and compassionate manner from a highly regarded expert in the field...an innovative and remarkable book that is essential reading for groups of professionals regularly encountering the challenges involved in this type of work and those who may come across it less frequently and need an authoritative text to refer to.' - Dr Gill Goodwillie, The Journal of Psychological Therapies in Primary Care
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Acknowledgements | v | ||
| 1 Introduction | 1 | ||
| Introduction to systemic theory | 3 | ||
| How do systems work? | 6 | ||
| Changes in membership and structure of the system | 8 | ||
| Collaborative care and differences in clinical roles | 10 | ||
| Summary | 13 | ||
| 2 The Impact of Illness and Disability on Families | 14 | ||
| Shared and individual experiences of loss | 15 | ||
| Blame and responsibility | 18 | ||
| Ambiguities in family boundaries | 20 | ||
| Challenges that relate to the condition in question | 21 | ||
| Challenges associated with the treatment | 23 | ||
| The course of the condition | 25 | ||
| Age and the life cycle of the family | 28 | ||
| The impact of illness on communication | 30 | ||
| Summary | 31 | ||
| 3 Applying Systemic Ideas to Health Care | 32 | ||
| Setting the context and agreeing on the contract of work | 33 | ||
| Developing hypotheses | 34 | ||
| Pacing | 35 | ||
| Bringing less noticed aspects of experience to the fore | 36 | ||
| Questions that open up alternative ways of thinking | 38 | ||
| Challenging narratives of blame | 40 | ||
| Normalizing the disruptive impact of illness | 43 | ||
| Reworking family boundaries | 44 | ||
| Disentangling illness from who one ‘really’ is | 45 | ||
| Linking the present and the past | 46 | ||
| When the condition is terminal | 48 | ||
| Summary | 49 | ||
| 4 Childhood and Adolescent Experiences of Illness | 51 | ||
| Age and understanding | 51 | ||
| Verbal and non-verbal communication | 55 | ||
| Childhood illness | 56 | ||
| When a brother or sister is seriously ill | 58 | ||
| When a parent is seriously ill | 60 | ||
| Working with children at times of particular difficulty | 62 | ||
| Group work | 64 | ||
| Schools: an underutilized resource | 65 | ||
| Summary | 68 | ||
| 5 Parenting in the Face of Illness | 69 | ||
| On parenting an ill child | 70 | ||
| Coming to terms with loss | 71 | ||
| Questions of responsibility and blame | 72 | ||
| Monitoring and vigilance | 73 | ||
| Mothering, fathering and couple relationships | 75 | ||
| Relationships with extended family and friends | 77 | ||
| On being an ill parent | 78 | ||
| Balancing self-care with caring for others | 79 | ||
| Questions of blame and guilt | 80 | ||
| Supporting parents facing illness | 81 | ||
| Summary | 83 | ||
| 6 Illness and Adult Relationships | 85 | ||
| Age and changes in the family life course | 86 | ||
| Disruptions to patterns of intimacy | 88 | ||
| Sexual intimacy | 90 | ||
| Health status, power and dependency | 92 | ||
| Gendered experiences of care | 94 | ||
| Same-sex relationships | 95 | ||
| Being ill when living alone | 97 | ||
| When adults need more intensive support | 99 | ||
| Summary | 100 | ||
| 7 Illness in Later Life | 102 | ||
| Social attitudes towards aging and illness | 103 | ||
| Challenges that are distinct to later life | 104 | ||
| Challenges to parent–child relationships | 107 | ||
| Challenges to couple relationships | 108 | ||
| Intervening at times of difficulty | 110 | ||
| Transitions to residential care | 113 | ||
| Summary | 115 | ||
| 8 Death, Bereavement and Living Beyond Loss | 117 | ||
| On moving from curative to palliative care | 118 | ||
| Helping families mourn and move on | 122 | ||
| Child and adolescent bereavement | 126 | ||
| Attending to grief at school | 130 | ||
| Spirituality | 131 | ||
| Summary | 133 | ||
| 9 Migration, Culture and Experiences of Diversity | 134 | ||
| Migration | 134 | ||
| When a migrant becomes ill | 135 | ||
| Illness and those who are ‘left behind’ | 137 | ||
| Language and the use of interpreters | 139 | ||
| Cultural diversity and exposure to prejudice | 143 | ||
| Summary | 148 | ||
| 10 Personal–Professional Aspects of Health Care | 149 | ||
| Potential sources of stress | 149 | ||
| Shifts in practice and policy | 151 | ||
| Ambiguities in roles and responsibilities | 152 | ||
| Maintaining ‘professional’ boundaries | 153 | ||
| Disentangling the personal and professional | 154 | ||
| On caring for the carers | 157 | ||
| Supervision | 158 | ||
| The structure and process of supervision | 159 | ||
| Challenges supervisees often raise | 161 | ||
| Challenges supervisors tend to face | 163 | ||
| Power and prejudice | 164 | ||
| Summary | 167 | ||
| Appendix | 169 | ||
| Endnotes | 170 | ||
| References | 172 | ||
| Index | 187 |