eBook[PDF]

Working with Continuing Bonds in Grief Therapy A Practical Guide By Robert A. Neimeyer, Edith Maria Steffen

$30.00

✓ Secure checkout

✓ Instant digital download

✓ PDF document

Document details

Pages: 266
File size: 3.84 MB
Format: Digital PDF
Course: Education
Category: eBook[PDF]

About this ebook

Working with Continuing Bonds in Grief Therapy: A Practical Guide, authored by Robert A. Neimeyer and Edith Maria Steffen, is a landmark textbook that details how clinicians can help clients maintain, reshape, and honor an enduring connection with a deceased loved one rather than trying to achieve "closure" or cut ties. [1, 2]

The book is structured into theoretical foundations, specific clinical modalities, and innovative tools. The primary topics and chapter focuses covered include: []

Theoretical & Framework Foundations

The "Continuing Bonds Revolution" – Tracing the historical, empirical, and cultural shift away from "letting go" toward adaptive connection. [, 2]
When Continuing Bonds Are Hampered – Assessing the difference between healthy continuing bonds and "maladaptive bondage," where grief remains stuck or agonizingly ambivalent. [, 2]
Constructing the Therapeutic Alliance – Building a strong, empathetic, and meaning-focused clinical relationship with the client. []

Narrative & Dialogue Modalities

Re-establishing a Narrative Presence – Sharing, exploring, and co-constructing stories of the deceased to process end-of-life suffering or death circumstances.
Correspondence with the Deceased – Utilizing therapeutic writing, letter exchange, and guided prompts to communicate unspoken thoughts.
Chair Work and Imaginal Dialogues – Adapting Gestalt-style two-chair techniques to map out internal dialogue, resolve unfinished business, and repair complex relational dynamics.
Embodied Dialogue – Navigating how grief lives in the body and incorporating somatic methods to anchor relational healing. [, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Visual, Spiritual, & Technological Interventions

Visualization and Imagery – Activating mental imagery and specific clinical scripts to invoke a consoling, safe presence of the deceased.
After-Death Communication (ADC) – Legitimizing, exploring, and facilitating experiences where clients report spontaneous or requested contact with the deceased.
Griefbots and Avatars – Addressing the modern digital frontier by evaluating how artificial intelligence, virtual avatars, and automated chat tools are integrated into modern grief therapy.
Continuing Bonds at the End of Life – Navigating ongoing attachments when working in hospice, palliative care, and the transition into bereavement. [, 2]

The Creative Toolkit & Clinical Assessment

Expressive Arts Modalities – Incorporating art-assisted techniques and visual media (termed "The Healing Canvas") to give external form to an inner bond. [, 2]
Relational Assessment Scales – Using systematic tools like the Unfinished Business in Bereavement Scale to identify and resolve lingering conflicts or disappointments. [1]
Session Transcripts and Vignettes – Step-by-step instructions accompanied by real session case examples that show exactly how these interventions look in active practice. [1, 2]