Counseling Individuals with Life Threatening Illness

Description

With a Foreword by Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD

"Where was this book when I was new as a counselor?....Fortunately, it is here now, and with all the scope, depth, resourcefulness, and balance required for such situations." -Dr. Robert Kastenbaum, PhD

"This book will now be an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to understand, counsel, or otherwise help individuals with life-threatening illnesses and their family members." -Charles A. Corr, PhD, CT

"Without question, this is the book you'll want your own caregivers to have read should you ever contend with life-threatening illness." -Therese A. Rando, PhD, BCETS, BCBT

Life-threatening illness is not only a medical crisis; it is a psychological, social, and spiritual crisis as well. Also, serious illness affects not only the patient, but the patient's family. Therefore, the two major premises of this book are that care in life-threatening illness must be holistic, and it must be family centered.

Doka presents an insightful, comprehensive guide for counselors, social workers, and health care professionals, as they assist clients experiencing a serious illness. The book builds on a model developed by the author, based upon earlier work by Avery Weisman and E. M. Patterson.

Doka's model presents illness as a series of phases:

• Prediagnostic: individuals may decide how to handle troubling symptoms or to take certain diagnostic tests
• Diagnostic: centered on the existential crisis posed by the diagnosis
• Chronic: individuals must cope with the disease and treatment
• Recovery: acknowledges that even when individuals survive an encounter with life-threatening illness, there are still considerable issues that must be resolved
• Terminal phase: individuals deal with the inevitability of death

In his discussion of each phase, the author delineates specific tasks for patients to perform and the issues they must adapt to. He also presents strategies for counselors and health care professionals to use with individuals in each phase of illness.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Historical Perspectives on Illness
Chapter 3 - Reacting and Adapting to Illness
Chapter 4 - A Model of the Illness Experience
Chapter 5 - The Prediagnostic and Diagnostic Phases
Chapter 6 - The Chronic Phase
Chapter 7 - The Recovery Phase
Chapter 8 - The Terminal Phase
Chapter 9 - Illness and the Family
Chapter 10 - The Professional Caregiver
Appendices
Index

Author Biographies

Dr. Kenneth J. Doka, PhD,is a Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America. A prolific author, Dr. Doka's books include Pain Management at the End-of-Life: Bridging the Gap between Knowledge and Practice, Living with Grief: Ethical Dilemmas at the End of Life, Living with Grief: Alzheimer's Disease, Living with Grief: Coping with Public Tragedy; Men Don't Cry, Women Do: Transcending Gender Stereotypes of Grief; Living with Grief: Loss in Later Life, Disenfranchised Grief: Recognizing Hidden Sorrow: Living with Life Threatening Illness; Children Mourning, Mourning Children; Death and Spirituality; Living with Grief: After Sudden Loss; Living with Grief: When Illness is Prolonged; Living with Grief: Who We Are, How We Grieve; Living with Grief: At Work, School and Worship; Living with Grief: Children, Adolescents and Loss; Caregiving and Loss: Family Needs, Professional Responses; AIDS, Fear and Society; Aging and Developmental Disabilities; and Disenfranchised Grief: New Directions, Challenges, and Strategies for Practice. In addition to these books, he has published over 60 article and book chapters. Dr. Doka is editor of both Omega and Journeys: A Newsletter for the Bereaved. Dr. Doka was elected President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling in 1993. In 1995, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Work Group on Dying, Death and Bereavement and served as chair from 1997-1999. The Association for Death Education and Counseling presented him with an Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Death Education in 1998. Dr. Doka has keynoted conferences throughout North America as well as Europe. Asia. And Australia. He participates in the annual Hospice Foundation of America Teleconference, hosted by Cokie Roberts and has appeared on Nightline. Dr. Kenneth J. Doka is a Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America.