Loss of the Assumptive World: A Theory of Traumatic Loss (The Series in Trauma and Loss) (Hardcover)

~ (Editor) "Trauma and loss are experiences that push us to our limits..." (more)
Key Phrases: revising the assumptive world, archaic narcissistic fantasies, assumptive world revision, New York, Luis Alberto, Basic Books (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A perfect text for an anxious time...an excellent addition to the literature on trauma. It will be helpful in understanding our clients as well as our responses to world events..
–Clinical Social Work Journal, Spring 2004

The chapters in this collection build on theories of the psychology of trauma and psychosocial chnage to discuss psychological disturbance that occurs after a traumatic loss..
The assumptive world is our guide as we organize ourselves and our understanding of the world around us. Trauma attacks those assumptions. This book will help us bridge trauma by using the assumptive world even when it is under attack by the trauma that attacks us..
–The World Pastoral Care Center, Resources Hotline, September 2002

The richness of this book for the reader is in seeing the same concept from a number of points of view..
–Bereavement Care

Product Description

In the face of trauma, our assumptive world -- the world experienced as normal or predictable -- is seriously disrupted. This disruption, this "loss of our assumptive world" functions as a metaphor for traumatic loss in this volume, providing extraordinary insight into the psychology of trauma, loss and change. Loss of the Assumptive World builds on Ronnie Janoff-Bulman's new psychology of trauma and Colin Murray Parkes' principle of psychosocial change. It is a concept that allows for the close examination of the psychological disturbance that takes place in the wake of a traumatic event. The authors in this collection examine the loss of the assumptive world and its reconstruction from diverse theoretical perspectives including constructivist and narrative theory, Kohutian self-psychology, betrayal theory, psychoanalysis and coping theory.

The diversity of perspectives and distinct interpretations illuminates the loss of the assumptive world concept and its clinical usefulness while articulating a spirit of hope and resilience in the face of traumatic loss.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583913130
• ISBN-13: 978-1583913130
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #647,679 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #31 in

  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Movements > Humanistic

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deserving of a Wider Audience, June 21, 2009

By	Kelly Cooper - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a collection of articles and essays which reference, compliment, and examine various facets of Ronnie Janoff-Bulman's psychological "assumptive world" theory. Written by clinical psychologists for clinical psychologist, it is refreshingly lucid and free of the pandering gibberish that one frequently encounters in psychology for the general reader (i.e. the "self-help" industry). Of particular interest is a lengthy essay in the middle of the book which links assumptive world theory with Ernest Becker's work on death denial. Here, the specific focus on traumatology as a sub-discipline of clinical psychology widens to address larger issues of day-to-day coping and value judgments of non-traumatized individuals. It's difficult, given the convincing nature of many (although not all) of these essays, to escape the conclusion that the miniature traumas of everyday life - and how we each confront them - can be fairly characterized as windows into the nature of the universe and, conversely, into our own unique natures (or souls).

Further, the value and purpose of dramatic narrative - collectively and individually - are touched on here in meaningful ways. Anyone interested in the causes of conflict, neuro-biological motivators of behavior, and the pathways to a more meaningful life will find this material positively provocative.

In the most banal sense, it reveals to the reader his or her most basic assumptions about "reality" - and exposes them as tenuous, albeit necessary, illusions.