Book Description

The third edition of the Handbook of Thanatology is an accessible volume that offers essential knowledge in the field of thanatology in a format that is practical for both novices and those with extensive experience in the field. The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) is an international and professional organization "dedicated to promoting excellence and recognizing diversity in death education, care of the dying, grief counseling and research in thanatology." A key aim of the organization is "to advance the body of knowledge and to promote practical applications of research and theory." While providing resources and support to its multidisciplinary membership, ADEC strives to educate the broader public and to enact its vision of "a world in which dying, death, and bereavement are recognized as fundamental and significant aspects of the human experience" The editors actively recruited fifty-four authors from fourteen countries who represented diversity with regard to disciplines (e.g., nursing, social work. medicine, psychology) and demographics (e.g., gender, citizenship, and race/ethnicity). They intentionally engaged authors from different countries for each chapter, and in most cases, met this goal. As a result, readers will find many useful points of cultural comparison throughout the volume. Some author pairings represent scholars previously unknown to each other and the substance of their joint contributions has emerged as unique, dynamic, and exciting. The Handbook provides important background information on specific topics within the field while also addressing controversies related to them. Initial chapters emphasize foundational topics including definitions of death, death-related attitudes, the epidemiology and demography of death, end-of-life care, and memorialization. The middle chapters focus on grief theories, distinct conceptualizations and considerations of grief based on cause of death, and problematic grief. The volume concludes with chapters highlighting the broad topics of death education, professional practice, history of the field, social presentations of death, and non-death losses.