For nearly three decades, Sandra Bertman has been exploring the power of the arts and belief--symbols, metaphors, stories--to alleviate psychological and spiritual pain not only of patients, grieving family members, and affected communities but also of the nurses, clergy and physicians who minister to them. Her training sessions and clinical interventions are based on the premise that bringing out the creative potential inherent in each of us is just as relevant-- perhaps more so--as psychiatric theory and treatment models since grief and loss are an integral part of life. Thus, this work was compiled to illuminate the many facets that link grief, counseling, and creativity. The multiple strategies suggested in these essays will help practitioners enlarge their repertoire of hands-on skills and foster introspection and empathy in readers.

Table of Contents:
Introduction The Arts, Personal Griefs, Professional Roles •On the Psychology of Loss William M. Lamers, Jr. •What the Nurse Likes Cortney Davis •Preventing Harm in the Name of Help: Ensuring Ethical Care Through the Concept of "Preserving Own Integrity" Lynn Cummings •Becoming the Patient Cortney Davis •Music—A Companion for the Journey from Mourning to Morning Sally S. Bailey •Night Nurse Cortney Davis •Comfort Care L. J. Schneiderman •To Know of Suffering and the Teaching of Empathy Sandra Bertman and Melvin J. Krant •The Body Flute Cortney Davis •Reflections on Suffering Aaron Lazare •Hope and Millie David Hatem •The Faces of AIDS: An AIDS Quilt Wilma Bulkin Siegel •Seeing Fred On a Respirator Carol Picard Some Ways Caregivers Use the Arts for Themselves and Those They Companion •Using Art Therapy with Pediatric Oncology Patients Linda G. Nicholas and Suzanne Lister •Art Techniques with Children with Cancer Barbara M. Sourkes •Puppets: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Caregivers and Children about Death and Dying Brenda Eng •Transformations: Visual Arts and Hospice Care C. Regina Kelley •Sound and Silence: Music Therapy in Palliative Care Kevin Kirkland •Songlines Carol Picard •Movies as Movement: Films as Catharsis in Grief Therapy Lynne Martins •A Wake for Dying: Forum Theatre Kate Wilkinson and Judith McDowell •Crisis in the Cafeteria Maria Trozzi •The Life and Death of Yusuf Hawkins Christina Schlesinger •Gravestone Rubbing—Epitaph for Yusuf Hawkins Roberta Halporn •Remembrance Photographs: A Caregiver's Gift for Families of Infants Who Die Mindy L. K. Gough Lessons from Cultures Old and New •Culture, Creativity and Death J. Havelka •Visible Words: Ritual in the Pastoral Care of the Sick and Dying Kurt Stasiak •The Role of the Visual Image in Psychodynamics of Grief Resolution (Viewed Through Jewish Law and Tradition) Hannah Sherebrin •Pathological Grief—A Problem in Search of a Definition: The Tragedy of Hamlet as a Model Roberta Halporn •Keeping Emotional Time: Music and the Grief Process Lesleigh Forsythe •A Study in Grief: The Life and Art of Kaethe Kollwitz Louis A. Gamino •Death and Grief Made Visible: The Life and Work of Edvard Munch Judith M. Stillion •Against Daily Insignificance: Writing Through Grief Martha K. Davis •Sculpting Through Grief Nancy Fried •AIDS Time: A Passage Through Cawthra Park James Miller •Social Support "Internetworks," Caskets for Sale, and More: Thanatology and the Information Superhighway Carla J. Sofka •Healing and the Internet Thomas R. Golden Basic Needs of Grieving People •Therapeutic Touch: For Those Who Accompany the Dying Mary J. Simpson •The Nurse and the Art Are One Carol Picard meditation on the Vietnam Women's Memorial, 1994 •Hello, David Anonymous •My Mother's Hands Elaine Freed Lindenblatt •The Sourdough Father Lesleigh Forsyth •The M(ortality) Word and the L(ove) Word… Elsa Dorfman •Dear Edith Jessie Kesson • Silent Conversations Leigh Westerfield