Grief and loss across the lifespan: a biopsychosocial perspective

This text is written from a biopsychosocial perspective and addresses death experiences across the lifespan along with identification and intervention strategies for normative losses.

This text is arranged to utilize a developmental framework so that each level of development from infancy through aging is addressed in four ways.

The first section opens with a review of normal developmental issues for the age in question, particularly the abilities and challenges that are specific to that age.

The second section analyzes how an individual of that age tends to cope with a serious loss of a significant other, including how they may experience life threatening illness themselves.

The third section addresses how significant others tend to react and mourn in the face of the death of someone in that age range.

The fourth section of each chapter identifies the normative losses a person is likely to experience, and addresses protective and risky ways of coping with those losses.