The loss of a family member or someone close to you can feel like the end of the world. The acute pain, confusion, and depression that come with grief can be extremely hard to navigate, and moving forward can feel like a daunting or impossible task.
In times of grief or bereavement, it is important to know that you are not alone, that your life will continue meaningfully, and that there is a way through the darkness.
Whether you are dealing with the unique pain of losing a parent, significant other, child, or someone else important, these authors, many of whom are medical or counseling professionals, provide road maps for moving forward and living your life to the fullest once again.
Here are 10 books about grief and bereavement, ranging from memoirs to instructional guides, that offer the support and companionship necessary to processing and overcoming grief.
Give Sorrow Words
When Tom Crider’s only daughter passed away at just 21 years old, he found himself searching for a book that would offer him the companionship and comfort he needed to continue forward.
Finding no such book, he decided to write the book he wished he had read at that time. Filled with deep insights and spiritual guidance, without certainty or sermons, this book is for anyone who is going through a loss and finds natural comfort in the power, reflection, and shared experiences that books offer.
Grief Unveiled
A widow herself, Sarah Nannen offers a path forward through grief and widowhood. This book is intended not only for those mourning but as a guide for those supporting the bereaved through this unimaginable time.
Nannen focuses on hope and possibility while still honoring the immense pain of loss. She teaches readers how to go from merely surviving to thriving after their life has been changed in such a huge and difficult way.
How to Go On Living When Someone You Loves Dies
When you lose someone you love, it can feel like a storm of uncertainty, confusion, and despair. This enduring guide to handling grief provides practical steps and guidance to finding your way back to stability and a changed normalcy.
This book includes tools for understanding grief, communicating with children about death, and accepting help. It also helps readers with objectives like planning funerals, creating new rituals, and addressing how they will honor the person lost in their life.
Keep Pain in the Past
Doctors Chris Cortman and Joseph Walden are both psychologists at the top of the field of emotional trauma and PTSD. In this book, they share the methodology they use to help patients recover from psychological wounds such as trauma, grief, loss, and guilt.
Through meaningful stories and guided techniques, they provide the tools to face the pain, find closure, and move forward.
Life after Loss
Moving on or recovering from a loss can often feel daunting or even completely impossible. This book, called “one of the classics in the field of crisis intervention,” helps readers to craft a life that is necessarily different, but just as meaningful as life before the loss (Dr. Earl Grollman).
This edition includes new chapters and changes that reflect Bob Deits’ commitment to the most current and effective methods of counseling and addressing grief.
Modern Loss
This book provides a fresh and irreverent guide for navigating grief in the modern age, where the internet and social media have changed the experience of loss.
Based on the website that is "redefining mourning," this book contains candid essays from voices of different backgrounds to offer comfort and community in the messy and confusing time of grief (New York Times).
With humor, wisdom, and wry illustrations, this is the roadmap for grieving in the 21st century.
Never the Same
Never the Same addresses the unique experience of children and teens dealing with the loss of a parent. Only in recent years has it been acknowledged that children grieve as much as adults and that this grief can affect them into adulthood.
Having worked as the Executive Director of the Dougy Center for Grieving Children, Donna Schuurman is the perfect person to offer expert advice and guidance for young people coming to terms with the loss of a parent in order to resolve their grief and help them live peaceful and meaningful lives.
Resetting
A longtime nurse and Red Cross volunteer, Susan Beth Hassmiller had seen death before. However, she was blindsided when death overturned her own life when her husband was fatally injured in an accident.
Written in the format of daily diary reflections, this book is a raw and gripping account of the effect of death on one woman from the perspective of a wife, widow, and medical professional. Hassmiller offers her support and wisdom to all those experiencing a similarly trying time.
The Sudden Loss Survival Guide
After the sudden loss of her own mother, nationally recognized grief educator Chelsea Hanson decided to pen this guide for others experiencing the shockwaves of a sudden loss.
Here she has gathered everything she learned through her own grieving process and her professional experience to create a road map for others.
This book includes proactive exercises to help you overcome the depression and anxiety that come with grief, as well as empowering prompts for moving forward and finding meaning.
Widowed
This book is for every widow stuck in the immense grief and pain of losing their life partner. Joann Filomena, a certified life coach and widow herself, helps readers who feel they will never enjoy life again find room for hope and happiness alongside their grief.
With honesty and passion, Filomena offers a warm hug and unwavering friendship, and support for anyone else dealing with this unique experience that is widowhood.
Featured photo: Mike Labrum / Unsplash
