Review: The Loss Prescription by Dr Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell
Title: The Loss Prescription: A practical roadmap to grief recovery
Author: Dr Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell
Published: March 14, 2024
Genre: Self Help, Psychology
Age: Adult
What’s it About?
The Loss Prescription is a "road map" to navigating grief, written by a chartered psychologist and trauma counsellor. The book explores how grief affects the body and mind, and offers practical support on finding ways to cope with the challenging situations it throws our way. The guidance within comes from decades of experience working with clients, and each section ends with a prescription - questions and journaling prompts you are encouraged to work through in your own time - and advice on when to reach out for professional support. The book also covers many different types of grief, not only bereavement but also the grief that comes from the end of a long term relationship, or at the loss of your health.
Opinions:
I absolutely loved The Loss Prescription. I picked this title up via BookBeat as I'm rapidly approaching the first anniversary of losing my mother, and I've been reading multiple books on grief, loss, and bereavement over the last twelve months. The Loss Prescription helped me see that everything I currently feel is entirely normal and that I'm travelling along the grief road in a healthy and understandable way. It helped me see elements of that grief in a new light, and understand why my brain struggled so much with certain aspects of loss and not others - insights I've shared with my sister and husband along the way.
I listened to this book as an audiobook and would highly recommend doing so. The audiobook is read by the author, who has a very reassuring tone but never sounds condescending or coddling. That benign said, I also plan to pick up a physical copy to help me work through the prescriptions at the end of the chapters, as I felt these were often challenging to work on in audio format.
There’s actually quite little I can say about a book like this, you’ll know immediately whether the topic it covers is something you’ll find helpful just from the description. However, if you are looking for a book on grief, either for yourself or to support a loved one, then this is one of the best I’ve read so far.
Rating: 5/5