Coping With Physical Loss and Disability
Rick Ritter MSW
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2006 Loving Healing Press
ISBN: 1932690182

A Workbook providing questions & exercises to empower those with physical loss & disability.

Through case stories, Rick Ritter explains & describes how understanding & acceptance of the ongoing processes of loss & recovery can help turn your life, both for those surviving the loss & those assisting in their journey.

Through exercises distilled from his years of clinical social work with clients suffering from quadriplegia, paraplegia, amputation, cancer, severe burns, HIV/AIDs, hepatitis, lupus, & neuro-muscular disorders, Rick Ritter formulated a way of looking at the major obstacles to enjoying the quality of life a person can have, under the circumstances. Like anything else in this “mortal coil”, it all starts & ends with your mind!

Coping With Physical Loss and Disability starts by asking What is Physical? -- “Along with physical loss, there is a loss of dreams and expectations for one's life. As long as these non-physical losses go unhealed, the consequences to a person and his/her world are incalculable. It is also critical for the physical loss to be dealt with in a holistic manner... A person can best be described by considering four aspects: emotional, mental, physical and spiritual. All four are important, and they interact in complex ways. You have undergone some distressing physical losses. The impact of these on your life will depend on the emotions you feel about them, your thoughts, and the way you conceive of your place in the universe.”

Then onto the 6 working chapters:
 • Past and Future -- Stories & pages of simple questions where you can have your answers written.
 • Self-Care and Support -- again stories with pages for your answers to questions about your current & future care.
 • Dealing with Loss: Feelings and Beliefs -- Before & after ideas about what you used to do & examining the feelings & beliefs that hold you back from what you want to be doing.
 • Understanding Disability -- what are your feelings about receiving help, helping others, how your treat other disabled people & others treat you?
 • Transforming Circumstances -- what are the positive things you & your family have experienced from your loss?
 • The Ongoing Process of Loss and Recovery -- now is the time to assess what you've learnt & what your future has in store.

In this time of War against Global Terrorism, as more & more of our beloved Warriors return home from the battlefields injured & maimed, it behooves us, one & all, to learn what physical loss means to them & their families. Coping With Physical Loss and Disability is an easily read workbook with stories, exercises & images easily understood & transferred into your everyday world. At the very least, it will give you some insights on how to meet & greet those of us who are permanently injured, as well as ways to be of use... or not!

Coping with Physical Loss and Disability provides a comforting guide to anyone living with a Veteran from any war, or a survivor of a life-changing injury or disease.
(01/15/06)

Rebecca