Coping with Traumatic Death: Homicide: A Book to Help You in Your Time of Need

by Bob Baugher

Now available on audiobook. This book is also now published in a Spanish version and a version for use in The United Kingdom as well as the standard American version. Someone you love has been murdered. This book is intended to help you understand some of what to expect after the homicide of a family member or friend. The book is divided into sections which cover the first few days, the first few weeks, the first few months, the first year and beyond. Lew tells his story of grief and his confrontations with the killer following the murder of his daughter, Carmon. One reader If this booklet had been available when I was told of my brother's homicide, I would have carried it with me and used it often.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Bob Baugher, Ph.D., FT (Fellow in Thanotology) is a Psychology Instructor at Highline College (Des Moines, Washington) where he teaches courses in Psychology and Death Education. As a trainer for LivingWorks he has trained more than 1,500 people in suicide intervention. Dr. Baugher has written books and articles on grief and loss and has given more than 800 workshops across America, including England, South Africa, Namibia, Singapore, Australia, Canada and the Philippines. He is the professional adviser for both the Seattle widowed support group (Widows Information and Consultation Service) and the South King County Chapter of The Compassionate Friends.

Reviews

[♡Alissya♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I needed. Lots of talk about how their goal is to help cope, but don’t really present how to help. Most of the book is what to expect with the legal processes paired along with Lew Cox wanting to just share their experience. Which is fine, but mildly misleading and not what I needed help with unfortunately.

Wouldn’t necessarily title this book “Coping with Traumatic Death: Homicide” when it doesn’t actually deal with that topic. If you were expecting a book on helping you with the trauma after this experience, as I imagine most people aren’t ready to read up on this during the height of their grief while currently going through it, I wouldn’t count on this book to help. It’s more a book about literally RIGHT after the murder of a loved one and talks about what to expect when planning funeral services, working with authorities to find the perpetrator(s), going through legal processes and trials, etc. I feel a more appropriate title would be “What to Expect After a Traumatic Death: Homicide”
It wasn’t badly presented and it was informative… but for the simple fact that I felt mislead by the title and most of the entire book wasn’t exactly helpful for me years after the fact when I’m finally ready to research on what trauma that I feel I should give only 3 stars. This wasn’t helpful for me as my family murder happened 4 years ago and this book is more for someone to read literally right as it takes place and what to expect going forward not helping with the aftermath. It does not help with dealing with your emotions after the fact that the legal processes, funerals, etc have already taken place and life has moved on.
The only chapter I felt the most helpful for me was towards the end of the book in chapter 4 and parts of chapter 5 on grief. However, those don’t exactly go into depth on how to help or cope at all and more so just present what other people go through and what’s common to feel and how people eventually felt better. I wish it would present more evidence, stats, and facts along with showing us what could help and has been proven to help instead of just listing things off.