Existential Therapy for the Challenge of Living On

Aviva Keren Barnett is an existential psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, international lecturer, and published author, specialising in illness, anticipatory grief, and the multifaceted forms of loss.Dr Simon Wharne is a Counselling Psychologist, Existential Psychotherapist, educator and supervisor. Working in New Zealand, following a career in the NHS. Has written on mental health services, research methodologies, resilience and cross-cultural awareness.

‘What makes this book distinctive is its refusal to write from outside the human condition. Aviva Keren Barnett and Simon Wharne bring their own lives into the text - psychotherapy conducted from a warzone, grief lived alongside clinical practice, the losses of migration and cultural dislocation - and this honesty transforms what could have been a theoretical survey into something far more alive. Drawing on van Deurzen, Yalom and Frankl with genuine rigour, their central argument lands with force: that death, illness and loss are not interruptions to life but threads woven through it. Essential reading for any practitioner working at the edge of what it means to be human.’Dr Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell, DCPsych, CPsychol, AFBPsS, Founder, The Grief Clinic London'This book provides a powerful recognition of the fact that death, illness, and grieving are not exceptional states, but integral parts of every person’s life. The authors do us a great service in facing these undeniable truths.'Benjamin Yalom, PhD, MFT‘This very accessible and helpful book brings together the principal therapeutic approaches to working with illness, death, loss and grief. More importantly, the authors describe with touching honesty what they themselves have gained from confronting, personally and professionally, the experience of ‘living with the pain of being’. It is from this existential confrontation, rather than its avoidance, that freedom and vitality arise - as well as the ability to be present to the other's pain and grief.'Laura Barnett, author The Heart of Therapy, developing understanding, compassion and boundaries (Routledge 2023)

• Introduction Chapter 1: Theoretic Models of Grief – Key Concepts Chapter 2: Theoretic Models of Grief – In the Cultural Context of Lived Experience Chapter 3: Theoretic Models of Grief – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ Stages of Grief Denial Chapter 4: Theoretic Models of Grief – William Worden, John Bowlby, Lois Tonkin and David Kessler Chapter 5: Theoretic Models of Grief – Continuing Bonds Grief System Chapter 6: Theoretic Models of Grief – Following Irvin Yalom, Victor Frankl and other Existential Theorists Chapter 7: Theoretic Models of Grief – The four dimensions of existence in relation to death, illness and loss Conclusion