Front Cover -- Title Page -- Half Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- The soul of grief -- De-pathologizing PTSD -- The missing piece? Mourning -- Thank you -- Chapter One: Grief not as an illness but as a response to injury -- Terms used in this book -- Chapter Two: Traumatic loss and grief -- What is PTSD? -- PTSD by the numbers -- The inciting event, or "stressor" -- Inciting events in PTSD -- PTSD and the military -- PTSD sub-types -- Chapter Three: The symptoms of PTSD and traumatic grief -- PTSD symptoms -- Uncomplicated grief symptoms -- Shock, numbness, denial, and disbelief -- Disorganization, confusion, searching, and yearning -- Anxiety, panic, and fear -- Explosive emotions -- Guilt and regret -- Sadness and depression -- Relief -- "Comorbidities" in PTSD -- PTSD versus grief -- Traumatic grief -- Care-eliciting symptoms -- PTSD versus operational stress injury -- Chapter Four: The fear factor of PTSD -- PTSD and the brain -- A "disease" of memory -- Is PTSD an inherited predisposition? -- Can-and should-we prevent traumatic memories? -- PTSD and the biological/spiritual chasm -- Chapter Five: Fear, withdrawal, and negativity in normal grief -- Fear in normal grief -- Avoidance and emotional/spiritual withdrawal in normal grief -- Negative cognition and mood in normal grief -- Chapter Six:Traumatic grief as a form of complicated grief -- Ten factors that can contribute to complicated grief -- 1. The specific circumstances of the loss -- 2. The griever's personality, including the ability to understand and access emotionality -- PTSD: Risk factors and resilience -- 3. In the case of the death of someone loved,the griever's relationship with the person who died -- 4. The griever's access to and use of support systems -- 5. The griever's cultural/ethnic background.

6. The griever's religious/spiritual/philosophical background and current worldview -- 7. The griever's concurrent stressors -- 8. The griever's family systems influences -- 9. The griever's participation in meaningful rituals -- 10. Losses that tend to be stigmatized -- How complicated grief presents -- Absent or delayed grief -- Distorted grief -- Converted grief -- Chronic grief -- PTSD in children and teens -- The preschool subtype of PTSD -- Chapter Seven: Medical-model therapies as treatment -- Psychological debriefing -- Early cognitive-behavioral interventions -- Short-term cognitive behavioral therapy -- Evidence-based psychotherapy and grief -- Drug therapy -- EMDR -- Psychosocial rehabilitation -- Chapter Eight: Mourning as "treatment" -- Experience -- Mourning Need 1: Acknowledge the reality of the losses -- Primary and secondary losses in traumatic grief -- Mourning Need 2: Feel the pain of the losses -- Mourning Need 3: Remember the losses -- Mourning Need 4: Develop a new self-identity -- Complementary therapies for traumatic grief -- Mourning Need 5: Search for meaning -- Mourning Need 6: Receive ongoing support from others -- A family-systems approach in PTSD -- The importance of the six central needs of mourning -- Chapter Nine: The companioning philosophy of grief care -- Advocating for the companioning model of grief care -- Eleven tenets of companioning people in grief -- A reminder about the art of empathy -- Evasion-Encounter-Reconciliation -- Chapter Ten: When traumatic grief goes unmourned -- Symptoms of carried grief -- Difficulties with trust and intimacy -- Depression and negative outlook -- Anxiety and panic attacks -- Psychic numbing and disconnection -- Irritability and agitation -- Substance abuse, addictions, eating disorders -- Physical problems, real or imagined -- Common life losses.

Chapter Eleven: Catch-up mourning for traumatic grief -- A model for catch-up mourning -- Step 1: Acknowledging carried grief -- Step 2: Overcoming resistance to do the work -- Step 3: Actively mourning carried grief -- The needs of mourning in carried grief -- Support groups and stories -- Honoring our own stories -- Step 4: Integrating carried grief -- Chapter Twelve: Where to go from here? -- Talk to your colleagues about the conceptof PTSD as traumatic grief -- Talk to the people in your care about their grief -- Find ways to foster peer support -- Integrate the six needs of mourning into your therapy programs -- Integrate the concepts of carried grief and catch-up mourning into your therapy programs -- Explore your own grief and mourning -- Receive training in the companioning model of grief care -- A final word -- Back Cover.