Grief Unseen

Grief Unseen

Healing Pregnancy Loss through the Arts

Laura Seftel
Foreword by Sherokee Ilse

Paperback: £16.99 / $28.95 add to cart

2006, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 192pp
ISBN: 978-1-84310-805-4, BIC 2: VFXB MQTC VFJX

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 “Laura Seftel’s Grief Unseen is a generous gift to women and their partners who have experienced devastating loss through reproductive crisis. By including abortion and infertility as well as miscarriage, Seftel honors all life… Wise, comforting, and pragmatic, this book tutors all of us in the power of the creative arts to support the healing process that is native to the human soul.”

Pat B. Allen, author of Art is a Way of Knowing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

 “Grief Unseen is lavishly illustrated with visual and literary examples of how bereaved parents can shape their sorrow into meaningful creative expressions... Laura Seftel has brought her deep knowledge and appreciation of artistic therapies to the troubling grief of pregnancy loss...a moving, evocative book.”

Perry-Lynn Moffitt, co-author of A Silent Sorrow: Pregnancy Loss

"A creative, thorough, compassionate book that is a teaching to any caregiver."

Mary Rockwood Lane, co-author of Creative Healing, University of Florida

At least one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage, yet pregnancy loss remains a taboo topic and effective aftercare is rarely available for those who have experienced it. Grief Unseen explains the different kinds of childbearing losses, such as failed fertility treatment, ectopic pregnancy, and stillbirth, and explores their emotional impact on women and their partners, and the process of healing.

An established art therapist and mental health counselor, Laura Seftel shares her own experiences of miscarriage and recovery, and describes the use of art and ritual as a response to loss in traditional and modern cultures. She presents a rich variety of artists who have explored pregnancy loss in their work, including Frida Kahlo, Judy Chicago and Tori Amos, and shows how people with no previous artistic experience can generate creative responses as part of the healing process. The book includes step-by-step exercises in guided imagery, poetry, visual art, journaling, and creating rituals.

This accessible, positive resource will be useful to practitioners in the fields of medicine, mental health, art therapy and counseling, as well as women and families who have suffered pregnancy loss.