Grief and the Healing Arts: Creativity As Therapy
Edited by Sandra L. Bertman Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. Amityville, New York, 1999
415 pages
     Editor, Author and Educator, Sandra L Bertman, Ph.D., has gathered a remarkable range of contributors for another text in the Death, Value and Meaning Series produced by Baywood publishing Company.  The contributors include clinicians, physicians, educators, artists (photographers, filmmakers, dramatic artists, sculptors, etc.), art therapists, musicians, poets, and, contributors of religious background including a Buddhist nun.
     The text is divided into four major sections which reflect the contents of the chapters in the section.  The sections are: The Arts, Personal Griefs, Professional Roles; Some Ways Caregivers Use the Arts For Themselves and Those They Companion; Lessons From Cultures Old and New; and, Basic Needs of Grieving People.
     In her introduction, Sandra Bertman indicates the audience and intention of the book:  "This book is meant to refuel therapists, counselors, social workers, physicians, nurses, clergy, and all others who are committed to providing support to those in grief.  My thesis is that if we let the artist residing deeply within us emerge, even the most seasoned therapist can become a more creative, more self-sustaining one.  Each of us need periodic re-inspiration, booster shots to invigorate our imaginations and souls."  The four sections noted above take aim at this intention from varying points of view.
 Page 2 of the text contains a poem, The Five Stages of Grief, by Linda Pastan.  This poem notes the cyclical nature of grief in poignant terms and serves as an attention getter early on in the text. It signals that there is material here that is aimed at the heart of the reader.  In addition to a number of poetry offerings, the text contains both short stories and some lines of a drama text.
 There are also some rather straightforward clinical and theoretical chapters. "On the Psychology of Loss" - by William M. Lamers, Jr. M.D.,  is straightforward theoretical material which includes an informative visual image called The Grief Cycle. (p26) which encapsulates the material in the chapter.  Dr. Lamers, notes a cycle that includes: Loss, protest, despair, detachment, and recovery.  There is much of value in this chapter, but Dr. Lamers seems to present grieving as a single cycle heading toward "recovery" rather than acknowledging the cyclical nature so artfully expressed by Ms. Pastan.
 Chapters on art therapy techniques with children include: "Using Art Therapy with Pediatric Oncology Patients" - by Linda G. Nicholas and Suzanne Lister; and, "Art Techniques for Children with Cancer" - by Barbara B. Sourkes. There is also a chapter called: "Puppets: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Caregivers and Children about Death and Dying" by Brenda Eng.  These chapters are theoretical in content.
 Other chapters include: "Movies as Movement: Films as Catharsis in Grief Therapy" - by Lynne Martins.  "Sound and silence: Music Therapy in Palliative Care" - by Kevin Kirkland; and, "Keeping Emotional Time: Music in the Grief Process" by Lesleigh Forsyth.
 The text includes 47 contributions in all.  This addition to the Death, Value and Meaning Series, is in this writer's opinion well worth the reader's investment.  -Paul Barry