Customer Reviews

Coping with Physical Loss and Disability: A Workbook (New Horizons in Therapy)

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Rebeccasreads highly recommends COPING WITH PHYSICAL LOSS AND DISABILITY as a much-needed primer in this time of War against Global Terrorism, as more & more of our beloved Warriors return home from the battlefields injured & maimed.

It behooves us, one & all, to learn what physical loss means to them & their families. COPING WITH PHYSICAL LOSS AND DISABILITY, with quotations from world famous people who live with life-altering losses & diseases, is an easily read workbook with stories, exercises & images easily understood & transferred into your everyday world.

At the very least, it will give you some insights on how to meet & greet those of us who are permanently injured or surviving illness.

When your body no longer works the way it is supposed to, you lose far more than physical function. While some people can focus on what they have left and get on with life, for most of us physical loss involves grieving, changes in how we value ourselves, even disgust and shame.

This is why Rick Ritter's workbook will be invaluable for anyone who has been damaged in any of a very wide range of ways: surgery, accident, violence, disease, even aging. Helping professionals working with people whose problems focus on physical losses will need this book on a daily basis.

Rick developed the exercises in the book over a long time. When he uses them himself, his own example as a survivor of physical loss is no doubt enough to lead and inspire his client. To achieve the same end, he has enlivened the book with many individual examples and case stories. This lifts the book from the useful to the indispensable.

I edited this book for the publisher, Loving Healing Press, and feel honored to have been associated with it.

Dr Bob Rich is the author of 'Cancer: A personal challenge' [...]

Rick Ritter, MSW, has created an easy-to-use resource to help people confront a life-changing illness or disability. He could simply give good advice, relying upon his experiences as a disabled veteran, a social worker, and a competitor in events for disabled athletes. Instead, he engages the reader in answering questions, gathering support, finding resources, and taking a completely positive approach to difficult situations.

I love the workbook format, because it forces the reader to begin thinking about and acting upon ways to continue with a life that has become altered. Of course, altered doesn't mean over. It just means different. Ritter avoids sugar-coating those differences or the emotional, social, and physical problems that accompany them. However, he ultimately provokes the reader into finding ways to deal with those obstacles.

Ritter ends with a brief but inspiring look at his life, followed by a variety of resources. I suggest his workbook as a great beginning for anyone facing physical loss or disability.

Rick Ritter has written a superb self-help workbook that will benefit readers who have suffered a physical loss or disability. Ritter has included 50 questions to be answered by the reader. He recommends these answers be shared with at least three other people. In responding to these questions, the reader is able to reflect on his or her disability or physical loss. The book engages the reader in discovering ways to deal with their physical loss. To those readers who have experienced such a loss, the workbook will provide a sense of empowerment to those still in grief or depression.

Ritter himself has experienced his own disability. As a social worker(MSW), he has had the opportunity to work with 100 people who have suffered a physical loss or disability. His workbook provides a roadmap for readers to follow to reach attainable goals.

Also included are interesting short stories of people he has worked with ranging from amputation, breast cancer, muscular dystrophy, AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, and quadriplegia. He recounts how these people were able to cope with their loss.

Having a disability or having suffered a physical loss doesn't necessarily lead to unhappiness. How one responds to that loss is what really matters. Rick also uses spirituality, support systems, and holistic methods as an approach to coping with the loss. Resiliency is crucial in facing any loss or disability.

As a mother of a son with cerebral palsy, I can see how this workbook could be very useful. He is now a happy young man working as an attorney. His disability didn't stop him from being productive. Also, having battled my own muscle disease along with rheumatoid arthritis, I found it helpful. As the daughter of a mother transfused with HIV contaminated blood, I can see how this workbook could have benefited her.

The resources included at the end of his book are certainly a bonus. He has listed helpful organizations, suggested reading, and films relating to physical loss and disability.

Rick Ritter has given his readers a wonderful gift. "Coping with Physical Loss and Disability" is an empowering book that will benefit many readers. I highly recommend this workbook. Thank you, Rick for caring. Your workbook will be appreciated by many people.

Nancy A. Draper (Author) A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle with AIDS

This workbook would be ideal for someone new to MS, when they are having to formulate who they are,versus the disease process.

It is important how you see yourself at every step along the way. At this junction, in my own experience, I have developed strong coping skills, my own sense of joy with life, has been my mainstay.

Thank you Rick for caring about others. It is a very healing virtue. If I could share with others, what I have found to be the most helpful of all things, I would tell them that God's love is best and then all other loves. Even the most minute show of caring by others, warms the heart. It strengthens and works like a tonic. Thank you Victor Volkman for sending my copy of this book.

After reading the other reviews I purchased this book. I have a degenerative muscle disease for which there is no treatment. Although I have coped fairly well up to this point, I was finding myself more and more isolated. As I answered the questions, I felt it would be better if I were going through this process with a professional. I answered as fully as I was able, but there doesn't seem to be any suggestions as to what to do with this information. The book suggests that you share your answers with three people. In my case that wasn't possible.I can see that it would be useful in conjunction with therapy. Without that professional input, the book left me hanging.

"Coping with Physical Loss and Disability" by Rick Ritter, MSW, is a jarring book at 92 pages. When I first got it, I thought it would be a regular self-help book, and I admit I was skeptical. But I opened it and it turned out to be a workbook.

There are six sections of the book, going from what your original loss was to how you could ask for and get help for it. In fact, I really had to consider that particular question. "Describe your loss in detail" was another. That was one of those where I had to write my feelings, and like many with disabilities I've told the story so many times, I figured I'd gotten it to a science. It was a blah story with which I started out, therefore; one I'd told a million times.

Then, something happened inside of me. I got angry. I don't do that too much; usually I'm at most irritated and that's that. Life is irritating to me these days for various personal reasons, so that was what the answer was like till that particular switch in my head went off. All of a sudden, there was a real answer. I actually started yelling "What? You want to know about the stupid primary care physician who said one leg was shorter than the other, when it turned out I had a blood clot in it? You want to know about my parents? What...?"

In the end, the question tore something out of me that I hadn't expected at all.

If you read this book, be prepared to do it slowly. At the end, you'll find a section of resources that is very intense. The author even stuck in movies that deal with disability! The book itself will take you to places inside that you didn't know existed, like that bit of anger -- believe me, I had more than one of those. I cried, I threw things, I felt sorry for myself, I sat for long periods of time thinking hard about questions my mind refused to answer but that on the other hand it wanted to. That test of my own will-power hurt a lot sometimes. But believe me when I say, it's very much worth it.

"Coping with Physical Loss and Disability: A Workbook" - Rick Ritter, MSW; LovingHealing Press 2006.

As we prepared for our oldest daughter's amputaion, I searched for something to help guide us along as a family. This work book is wonderful. Although my daughter was emotionally ready for her loss, Rick Ritter was able to better address some of what we may have missed prior to her surgery. I strongly recomend this book for anyone dealing with physical loss them selves or that of a loved one. Joi Warburton, Las Vegas, NV

Coping With Physical Loss and Disability
Author: Rick Ritter, MSW
Publisher: Loving Healing Press
ISBN: 978-1-932690-18-7

Rjck Ritter, a social worker, veteran, and himself disabled certainly knows about this topic. Written in an easy to comprehend and easy to use workbook style, it's outstanding as a reference tool. All facets of dealing with disability are covered: the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional, as well as the actual practical logistical adjustments that need to be made.

Coping with a physical loss and disability is difficult, and attempting to work through the emotional, financial, logistical, family and other areas of change can seem hugely daunting. Knowing where to start can be an immense help.

Ritter's workbooks offers just that kind of help, and in an easy to understand series of questions. Through honest answers to these questions, you can learn the best method of dealing with your difficulties. You will learn how to establish a support system of caring professions, family and friends. You will be led through the process of setting your daily schedule, rehabilitation and recovery, along with determining realistic short and long term goals.

Additionally, the author includes an extensive list of suggested readings, films on pertinent issues and an excellent guide to therapeutic techniques. Also helpful is the listing of available organizations, foundations and associations, including organizations that support sports for persons with disabilities.

A specific section of the workbook is prepared especially for therapists and will prove most helpful to professionals in assisting their clients with disabilities.

An outstanding resource for anyone dealing with a disability, professionals in all areas of therapy as well as friends, family and caretakers of the disabled. Highly recommended as a permanent part of the professional's reference library.