Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss

Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss: The Art of Dreamscaping introduces a wide range of therapists to a novel, strengths-based and imaginal practice for helping clients at various points on the grief and loss continuum. Grounded in recent empirical research on how the emotional brain encodes new memories, this book describes how to create a resource-rich "prescriptive memory." Chapters by internationally recognized authors explore the theory and application of dreamscaping from a transdisciplinary perspective, including protocols for use with individuals and groups and guidelines for collaboration with other therapists and professionals. Illustrated with full-color dreamscape images co-created by clients and therapists, this is an exciting and innovative guidebook to a new method for cultivating hope and promoting restoration and growth.

Nancy Gershman is a memory artist and the developer of dreamscaping, an imaginal and photo-based practice for working with people contending with the loss of self, a person, place, or thing. She presents and provides training internationally on the practice. Since 2013, Gershman has been the host of Death Café New York City. Barbara E. Thompson, OTD, LCSW, is a professor of occupational therapy at The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, where she also maintains a private psychotherapy practice. She previously edited Grief and the Expressive Arts: Practices for Creating Meaning with Robert Neimeyer.

Acknowledgments. List of Images. List of Tables. Series Editor's Foreword, Robert A. Neimeyer. Prologue, John R. Jordan I. Theoretical Framework 1. The First Dreamscape, Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson 2. Therapies of the Imagination, Barbara E. Thompson 3. Elicitation of Humor, Positive Emotion and Play in Dreamscaping, Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson 4. From Prescriptive Memory to Tangible Dreamscape, Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson 5. Memory Reconsolidation and Art Therapy: Prescriptive Memory Conditions, Noah Hass-Cohen II. Implementation 6. Early Intervention Dreamscaping at End of Life, Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson 7. Dreamscaping with the Bereaved, Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson III. 1:1 Dreamscaping 8. An Art Therapist's Experience with Dreamscaping, Sharon Strouse 9. Dreamscaping as Meaning Reconstruction: Recovering a Father from the Shadow of Suicide, Robert A. Neimeyer and Jo Neimeyer 10. Traumatic Loss and Dreamscaping, Sharon Strouse IV. Therapist Collaborations 11. Dreamscaping a Revitalized Self, Phyllis Kosminsky 12. Prescriptive Memories Springing from a Parallel Process of Creation, Bonnie Mark and Angelique Poisson V. Group Dreamscaping 13. Dreamscaping with Pairs in a Group Setting: A Dance of Co-Creation, Sharon Strouse 14. Enshrining Prescriptive Memory, Lisa Ruth Mitchell VI. Future Directions 15. Dreamscaping and Empirical Research, Lauren J. Breen 16. Dreamscaping: An Invitation, Nancy Gershman. Appendices Appendix A-1: Sequence for Phase One of 1:1 Dreamscaping, Nancy Gershman Appendix A-2: Sequence for Phase Two of 1:1 Dreamscaping, Nancy Gershman Appendix B: Protocol and Guidelines for 1:1 Dreamscaping, Nancy Gershman, Barbara E. Thompson and Sharon Strouse Appendix C: Protocol and Guidelines for Dreamscaping with Pairs in a Group Setting, Sharon Strouse and Nancy Gershman About Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson. About the Contributors. Name Index. Subject Index.