Grief Dreams : How They Help Us Heal After the Death of a Loved One

225 Pages·2005·1.17 MB·English

by  T.J. Wray

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Grief Dreams
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T. J. Wray
with Ann Back Price
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Grief Dreams
How They Help Heal Us After
the Death of a Loved One
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Copyright © 2005 by T. J. Wray and Ann Back Price. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint
989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741 www.josseybass.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wray, T. J.
Grief dreams : how they help heal us after the death of a loved one /
[by T. J. Wray and Ann Back Price].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7879-7678-4 (alk. paper)
1. Death in dreams. 2. Grief. 3. Bereavement—Psychological aspects.
I. Price, Ann Back, date- II. Title.
BF1099.D4W83 2005
154.6'32—dc22 2004016534
Printed in the United States of America
FIRSTEDITION
HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction: Why a Book About Grief Dreams? 1
1. The Journey of Grief 9
2. About Dreams 31
3. The Visitation Dream 47
4. The Message Dream 67
5. The Reassurance Dream 95
6. The Trauma Dream 119
7. Other Types of Grief Dreams 139
8. Faith and Grief Dreams 161
9. How Grief Dreams Help Heal Us 177
Reader Resources 187
Selected Sources 201
About the Authors 211
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For Bob and Rosanne,
in memory of
Megan,
and
to all who mourn
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Preface
Following the unexpected death of my only brother in 1997, I began
work on a book about the unique grief experience of surviving adult
siblings. In the process of writing Surviving the Death of a Sibling:
Living Through Grief When an Adult Brother or Sister Dies,I had the
opportunity to speak with thousands of bereaved siblings. During
the course of most of these conversations, the subject of grief dreams
invariably came up; it was the one topic everyone wanted to dis-
cuss. I also noticed that the topic of grief dreams seemed to surface
frequently on the discussion board and during weekly chats at the
adult sibling grief Web site (www.adultsiblinggrief.com).
Such conversations would often shift from dreams of deceased
siblings to dreams of other deceased family members. I became fas-
cinated with these dream stories and noted the healing effects they
had in the lives of mourners. As I began to investigate this topic
more thoroughly, I was surprised to find that very little had been
written about the many benefits of grief dreams. I’m not sure why
there hasn’t been a greater focus on grief dreams in bereavement lit-
erature, but this book will surely help fill the gap.
Written in conjunction with Ann Back Price, a Jungian psycho-
analyst and dream expert, Grief Dreamsuses a relational approach.
Through the shared dream stories of mourners who have lost cher-
ished loved ones, Grief Dreamsweaves together elements of psy-
chology and spirituality so that readers will find some aspect of the
book meaningful and helpful in their individual journey of loss.
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