This thoughtful exploration of a neglected subject explains the emotional impact of losing parents in the midst of midlife--and why many underestimate it.

From Child to Elder explores the personal growth that can arise when a middle-aged adult loses his or her last living parent. Based on an empirical phenomenological study, this book details the complex ways in which the adult orphan's ongoing relationship to the deceased parents, combined with the unique meanings of the loss, leads to a deepening of individual autonomy and spiritual awakening. Confrontation with mortality and fundamental aloneness promotes, among other things, an increased sense of existential responsibility toward self and others as the adult orphan psychologically assumes its new role as an elder. These and many other themes are structured into an integrated whole and amplified through developmental, existential, and Jungian perspectives. The result is a compelling portrait of the processes by which the death of one's parents can accelerate psychospiritual development.

Counseling Across the Lifespan expands the perimeters of counseling with its emphasis on preventive techniques for adjustment problems in the lifespan of a normal individual. This cogent work focuses on counseling intervention strategies from the unique perspective of an individual’s lifespan, placing techniques in the proper development context. By concentrating on life stages—from childhood through old age—the authors identify the nature and origin of various psychological issues such as self-identity and healthy lifestyle development in adolescents, family violence in young adults, or retirement transitions for older adults. The intervention tools needed to confront these issues are presented through succinct pedagogical features including case examples, checklists for evaluating clients, and exercises.

This book presents a sensitive account of the challenges faced by adult children when making difficult decisions about care for and with their ageing parents in later life. It offers new insights into the practical, emotional and physical effects that witnessing the ageing and death of parents has on those in late midlife and how these relationships are negotiated during this phase of the life course. The author uses a psychosocial approach to understand the complexity of the experience of having a parent transition to care and the ambiguous feelings that these decisions evoke.

The complete guide for managing the financial, legal, and emotional issues of inheritances large and small. A death in the family is never easy, but receiving an inheritance, whether expected or not, can leave heirs feeling overwhelmed and even guilty at this change in their fortunes. Ann Perry’s insightful examination of the challenges make managing a bequest a little easier. Combining her practical know-how as a personal finance writer, the expertise of financial advisors, attorneys, and psychologists, and the wisdom gained from her personal inheritance experience, Perry deftly deals with such touchy subjects as selling the family homestead, divvying up property in “blended families,” parceling out heirlooms, dividing a family business, and sharing—or not sharing—an inheritance with a spouse. With refreshing candor, Perry addresses the guilt, grief, and unrealistic fantasies that can keep heirs from making the most of their windfalls, and also explores the unique, even life-changing, opportunities that a bequest can present. An excellent tool for estate planning, as well, this is essential reading for those who are writing their wills as well as those who are remembered in one.

A therapist and expert on grief is faced with the slow decline of her beloved mother. She imparts to the reader lessons learned, both personal and professional, in anticipating grief and the loss of a loved one. 'This is a unique book by a professional who understands the field of loss and grief ... Poignantly heartbreaking.' - Melba Vasquez, President, American Psychology Association's Division on Counseling Psychology.

DEATH, AMERICAN STYLE: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF DYING IN AMERICA is the first comprehensive cultural history to explore America’s uneasy relationship with death over the past century.