Disenfranchised grief in contemporary society

Death itself is already a major taboo in the Western world. The same can be said about grief, particulalry when it is not seen as such - the so-called symbolic and/or ambiguous losses. With this reality in mind, Gabriela Casellato has gathered fundamental texts to better understand the subject. Divided into four parts - "GRIEF IN EARLY-LIFE LOSSES ", "GRIEF IN LOSSES BY NON-NORMATIVE LIFEE-COUSE TRANSITIONS", "Grief in Care Giving" and "Social Engagement: From Silence to Action" – this book also includes an afterword on the Covid-19 pandemic, which has swept the world and continues to devastate Brazil.

Topics covered include:

-Fraternal mourning, widowhood, and falling ill with cancer;

-Grief faced by those outside of heteronormativity;

-Mourning of women who fail to get pregnant;

-Subjective and objective losses of immigrants;

-Emotional difficulties of formal and informal caregivers and palliative care teams;

-Grief of patients who lose their therapist;

- Silenced grief of people in religious roles.



"This new book edited by Gabriela Casellato is a great contribution to the subject of disenfranchised grief. This volume features chapters by psychologists specialized in the subject, as well as texts written by people who have lived through these losses. Casellato not only expands the dimensions of symbolic/ambiguous loss, but also applies the concept to the specifics of Brazilian culture, integrating theory and intervention. Mandatory work for psychologists, educators and all those who deal with losses without the support and validation they need."

KENNETH J. DOKA

PHD, author of Disenfranchised grief: new connections, challenges, and strategies for practice.