Mindfulness for Prolonged Grief: A Guide to Healing after Loss When Depression, Anxiety, and Anger Won't Go Away

by Sameet M. Kumar PhD, Ronald D. Siegel PsyD (Foreword by)

Overview

If you have lost a loved one suddenly or traumatically, have experienced extreme trauma yourself, or simply cannot process the death of someone dear to you, the pain can be overwhelming. For most people, grief resolves on its own, given time; but for many others, grief can lead to serious psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, anger, and an intense, inconsolable yearning for the deceased.

Prolonged or complicated grief is a serious psychological condition that can leave you feeling dazed, stunned, or in shock for months or even years after your loss. Your sorrow does not diminish with time. In fact, it may even increase. No matter how much support you receive from family and friends, you simply cannot “get over it.” However, there are steps you can take to begin healing.

Mindfulness for Prolonged Grief offers you real tools for overcoming the painful symptoms of prolonged grief. In the book, you will learn to relieve your pain by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, improving the quality of your sleep, and reconnecting with your life’s goals. In addition, you will discover how mindfulness exercises and guided meditations can help you process your grief, manage your intense emotions, and deal with loss without resorting to avoidant behaviors (such as addiction) as coping mechanisms.

Loss is an extremely painful part of life, but with help you can build the resilience you need to heal, and use your grief as a powerful vehicle for growth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608827510
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	11/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	634 KB

About the Author

Sameet M. Kumar, PhD, is a psychologist at the Memorial Healthcare System Cancer Institute in South Broward, FL, with over a decade of experience in working with end-of-life and bereavement. He is also the author of Grieving Mindfully and The Mindful Path through Worry and Rumination.
 
Foreword writer Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, is assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, coeditor of Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy, and co-director of the annual Harvard Medical School Conference on Meditation and Psychotherapy.
Sameet M. Kumar, PhD, is a psychologist at the Memorial Healthcare System Cancer Institute in Broward County, FL; with over a decade of experience working with end-of-life and bereavement. He is author of Grieving Mindfully, as well as The Mindful Path through Worry and Rumination.
Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, is assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. He is a longtime student of mindfulness meditation, and serves on the board of directors and faculty at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He teaches internationally about the application of mindfulness practice in psychotherapy and other fields, and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, MA.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 Identifying Your Grief 5

2 Mindfulness Meditation 19

3 Mindfulness of the Body 37

4 Sleeping Mindfully 51

5 Mindfulness in Motion 67

6 Mindful Sustenance 111

7 Mindful Cleaning and Decluttering 123

8 Transforming Pain 137

9 Creative Action 153

10 Mindful Resilience 167

References 187

Editorial Reviews

“Sameet Kumar's Mindfulness and Prolonged Grief Workbook is a welcome and important resource for both those struggling to cope with prolonged grief themselves and for the helping professionals who are advising and supporting them.”
—Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness and Lovingkindness
 



“Sameet Kumar has been working for many years as a psychologist and counselor in the field of dealing with this grief. In his wonderful new book Mindfulness and Prolonged Grief, he shares many of the approaches to inner healing that he has developed in his practice. In particular, he demonstrates how the ancient Buddhist methods of mindfulness meditation can be used to cure both body and mind when the overwhelming darkness of grief, depression, and hopelessness sets in. His book is both practical and immediate in its presentation, offering medical practitioners and patients alike a clear guide to a traditional healing technology that has worked for centuries, and is perhaps even more relevant today than ever before.”
—Glenn Mullin, author of Living in the Face of Death and The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation

From the Publisher