Retelling Violent Death [Paperback]

Edward Rynearson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1583913637 | ISBN-13: 978-1583913635 | Publication Date: August 8, 2001 | Edition: 1

This book provides insight and instruction for bereaved readers and those who work with them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A masterful melding of clinical expertise and personal revelation, the book is an eloquent, jargon-free resource for those who seek to help someone who has experienced the violent death of a loved one, whether by suicide, homicide, or an accident, as well as for survivors of traumatic death who seek compassionate, wise counsel for their own journey. Although Rynearson professes that the practice of retelling violent death does not clarity, the book itself is written with a refreshing clarity seldom found in his field. (As the owner of an outsize professional library that makes my husband dread moving day, I possess few volumes more valuable than this one. It has been useful from the first day I opened it.).
–Death Studies, May 2003

This is a warm, compassionate, and wise book. The emphasis on resilience and safety, on restorative retelling and human concern and kindness, provides guidance for those who would assist others to find their way through traumatic grief, or who would, themselves, seek to do so. This work will be of great value to all who offer care to others in this tragic life circumstance.
–Beverley Raphael, AM, MBBS, MD, FRANZCP, FASSA, FRCPSych, Emeritus Professor, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, Australia

This valuable how-to book for clinicians responds to today's world. Retelling Violent Death . . . has much new, important, and useful information to offer, and does so with a level of humanity that is profound and deeply moving. This is a book that deserves a place on every clinician's bookshelf.
–Deborah Spungen, MSS, MLSP, CTS, Special Projects Director, Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia

...sets out warmly readable guidance for the sufferers themselves and for nonprofessionals who want to help suffering friends or family emerge from the bewilderment, heartbreak, and confusion that come with violent death.
–Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma

About the Author

Edward K. Rynearson, MD, is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington, and Medical Director of the Homicide Support Project at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. He has thirty years of experience in research and clinical practice in helping grief-stricken family members.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583913637
• ISBN-13: 978-1583913635
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kind and wise, December 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Retelling Violent Death (Paperback)

Dr Rynearson's book resonates kindness and wisdom, based on his decades of work in the area of trauma and loss. He presents a model for understanding traumatic grief that takes into account the yearning for reunion that occurs with a death of a loved person, and the desire to avoid recall of the violence that occurs with traumatic events. He speaks from personal experience, so painfully gained, that completely centers the reader in the narrative. He has a kindly understanding of the ways in which we all seek to grapple with a violent loss, whether it be from suicide or by the act of an other. This is a human story, told with clinical wisdom and a deep understanding of complexity. The author never talks down to or over the heads of his readers, but through to us in a way that is very moving; several times I was in tears (not my usual experience in reading a clinical book).
His work is grounded in years of clinical experience and research. He heads a trauma and loss center at a hospital in Seattle and satellite training centers across the country. He is the author of numerous publications in the scholarly literature, and recipient of grants to fund his work. What comes through in this book, however, is the complex intelligent understanding of what it is to be human and responding to traumatic loss.
The book is divided into two sections; the first is more narrative and the second had more clinical recommendations. I would highly recommend this book to any clinicians dealing with violent death. Supporters and friends of persons who have recently suffered a violent loss will find their compassion and understanding increased. Persons who have themselves suffered the loss may at first be too upset to absorb the wisdom of this book, but later I think it would be very comforting.
So sadly, it is a timely publication.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, helpful, insightful, deeply moving, but not for the average Joe, July 30, 2006

By 

Melody Stiles (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Retelling Violent Death (Paperback)

As a professional psychotherapist, I found this book to be a goldmine of information for my practice. However, I have also been told by the two clients I recommended it to, that it was too scholarly and intellectual and the psychological concepts too lofty. And, both of these clients have graduate degrees! Rynearson writes with such raw emotion about his own personal journey in this arena that I found myself crying at one point while reading this book. Personally, I think every professional should be required to read this remarkable book before attempting to help a client recover from the devastation of losing a loved one to murder or suicide.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential guidance for clinicians and patients, September 28, 2001

By 

"avonelle" (Snohomish County, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Retelling Violent Death (Paperback)

Dr. Rynearson's thoughtfully and succinctly written book is valuable because of the personal and clinical points of view he brings to the subject of the effects of violent death on family, friends and community. Everyone who works in health care or social services will benefit from the stories and advice in this truthful book.