The book contributes to an awareness of the significance of loss in the life experience of persons with mental retardation. Experiencing loss may be a very powerful vulnerability in their mental or psychological life, and dealing with this loss is a basic element in psychological health. There has been an enormous hole in the death and dying literature and in the mental retardation literature on the mourning behavior and needs of persons with mental retardation. This book fills that hole, and lays a foundation for grief support services, establishes standards of practice and care, and is an educational primer about the loss and mourning needs of persons with mental retardation.
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsCHAPTER 1: Loss is At the Heart of Life: A General Introduction to Grief and the Practice of Helping Persons Who are Mourning The Person Who Gives Grief SupportKnowledge of the Grief of Others The Caregivers Awareness of His or Her Own Mortality The Very Psychological Development of the Self is a Process of Mourning LossesSupporting the Mourning Process of Others Recognizing Grief and Facilitating the Mourning Process Recognizing Grief is the Basic Supportive Response to Grief Grief is a Disturbance Recognize the Diverse Kinds of Loss Experience that Occur in the Lives of Persons with Mental Retardation CHAPTER 2: Guidelines for Supporting and Facilitating the Mourning ProcessThe Aim of the Supportive Environment is to Facilitate the Mourning Process When a Death Happens: General Guidelines Does a Person with Mental Retardation Understand Death? Breaking the News of a DeathBegin with an AssessmentAcceptance, Affirmation, and Validation of Grief Symbolization Facilitate Active and Maximum Participation in Social Experience of the Loss and Facilitate Activities for the Person to Experience the LossSupport the Adaptation Needs of the Grieving PersonPreparation for the Death of a Primary Family Caregiver Teachable Moments Anniversaries and Holiday: Personal Memorial Days Lois The Collaborative Relationship between Grief Counselor/Therapist and Agency or Family Grief Support Interventions for a Residence What to Do When a Peer is DyingIntense Grief Disrupts a Residence CHAPTER 3: The Language of Grief in Persons with Mental RetardationIntroduction to the Behavioral Language of Grief Nicholas Doris Jamie Perry CHAPTER 4: Psychological Concerns and Complications Introduction to Psychological Concerns and Complications Compulsivity, Perseveration, and Ritualization: Preventing Change Harold Dependence/AttachmentChad Ambivalence Hank Aggression, Anger, Hatred, Revenge, Indifference, Paranoia, etc.: Death as an AccusationBetty Caroline Sarah Jimmy SomatizationMiloSelf-Loathing, Self-Directed Anger, Guilt, Shame, and Other Attacks of the Self. Mark Phillip Manny Jason Chronic Low-Level Anxiety as Narcissistic GriefDonnaThoughts on the Relation of Complications in the Grief of Persons with Mental Retardation to Psychodynamics of Grief in all Persons CHAPTER 5: Program Development: The Creation of a Grief Supportive CommunityGuidelines for Agencies Introduction: Preparation for Responding to Losses Agency Loss Team Agency Self-Assessment of Loss ExperiencesClient Loss Assessment Supporting Staff as a Way of Cultivating an Agency Climate of Grief SupportStaff Turnover The Beginning Phase of the Helping RelationshipThe Middle Phase of the Helping Relationship The Termination Phase of the Helping Relationship ,br> Staff Training ProgramsPlacement: Crisis and ProcessThe Crisis of PlacementMegThe Placement Process, as a Policy of Residential Agencies Aging and IllnessClient EducationFamiliesCHAPTER 6: Experience in a Grief Group REFERENCES Not Cited in Text on Mourning and Mental Retardation Index About the Author
