Adaptation to Loss Through Short-Term Group Psychotherapy

Adaptation to Loss Through Short-Term Group Psychotherapy

William E. Piper, Mary McCallum, Hassan F. Azini

New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 219 pp, 1992

Adaptation to Loss is extremely useful at several levels, some of which are not outwardly evident from the title, and that is perhaps the book’s only significant shortcoming.

First and foremost, this book is a guide to treating pathological reactions to loss, either through death or divorce, among adults, using short term psychodynamic group psychotherapy. In that alone, the book succeeds. The direct clinical material is extremely helpful and is built on a careful and well-explained theoretical base. The authors’ summary of psychoanalytic theories of pathological grief is broadly applicable.

The greatest strength of the book, and the quality that sets it apart from most books that describe a psychotherapeutic approach to a problem, is the incorporation of the authors’ research findings. All three are well-known for their meticulous and valuable research into the process and outcome of psychotherapy. Adaptation to Loss describes an exemplary model of research and clinical integration, beginning with the theoretical base described above, progressing to the issue of selecting individuals likely to benefit (prescribing the therapy), followed by a description of the clinical work, and finally providing evidence of positive outcome for their approach. The evidence on outcome is in turn knit together with some interesting findings on the process of psychotherapy, and all are frankly discussed in terms of future directions as well as the authors’ understanding of the limitations of their project.

In summary, the book works as a useful and thorough guide to a clinical approach to an important problem, as a discussion of pathological grief in general, and uniquely, as a model of clinical and research integration. For the latter reason alone, it is a useful book for any readers interested in psychotherapy, regardless of their approach.