Description
Book SynopsisAn expert neurologist explores how the mind, brain, and body respond and heal after her personal experience with profound loss. Winner of the Best Book Award (Health: Death & Dying) by American Book FestIn Before and After Loss, neurologist Dr. Lisa M. Shulman describes a personal story of loss and her journey to understand the science behind the mind-altering experience of grief. Part memoir, part creative nonfiction, part account of scientific discovery, this moving book combines Shulman's perspectives as an expert in brain science and a keen observer of behavior with her experience as a clinician, a caregiver, and a widow. Drawing on the latest studies about grief and its effects, she explains what scientists know about how the mind, brain, and body respond and heal following traumatic loss. She also traces the interface between the experience of profound loss and the search for emotional restoration. Combining the science of emotional trauma with concrete psychological techniques
Trade ReviewThis poetic and insightful, if heartbreaking, memoir from neurologist Lisa M. Shulman stems from her own bereavement of her late husband . . . Combined with the latest scientific studies in traumatic brain injury and holistic approaches to healing, Shulman has created a unique book that touches on all aspects of the process of grieving—the psychological, physiological, and overlap between neurology and psychiatry. Ultimately, Shulman points out that whether brain injury is caused by physical or emotional trauma, it results in similar long-term effects—and also that post-traumatic stress can become post-traumatic growth, with the right tools. In short, it could prove to be an invaluable aid to counselors, psychotherapists, and medical doctors, as well as anyone moving through grief toward wholeness.
—Lauren LaRocca,
Baltimore MagazineAn interesting thought-provoking book, which describes the trauma experienced by the author of losing her husband to cancer and then provides psychological techniques to move forward from sorrow to healing and growth.
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Nursing TimesTable of ContentsPreface
I.The Before Life
Chapter 1. But We Will
Chapter 2. We Are Sick
Chapter 3. We Are Dying
II. The After Life
Grief and Loss
Chapter 4. The Altered Life
Chapter 5. The Neurology of Grief
Chapter 6. Dreams and Dream Interpretation
Chapter 7. The Science of the Wounded Mind
Chapter 8. The Science of the Wounded Brain
Healing and Restoration
Chapter 9. Developing Confidence in Managing Grief and Loss
Chapter 10. Journaling as a Tool of Emotional Healing
Chapter 11. Nontraditional and Traditional Therapies: Meditation to Medication
Chapter 12. Emotional Restoration: A Gateway to New Directions
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
