The assumptive world concept is a psychological principle of the conservation of human reality or "e;culture"e; - it is a lens for seeing the psychological disturbances that occur in times of change. In this collection, the authors examine the assumptive world from diverse theoretical perspectives, providing the reader with an array of different viewpoints illuminating the concept and its clinical usefulness.

Note from the EditorSeries Editor's ForewordForeword, Ronnie Janoff-BulmanAcknowledgmentIntroduction, Jeffrey KauffmanConstructing Meaning in a World Broken by the Traumatic Loss of the Assumptive World: Meaning, Self, and Transcendence1. Crisis of Meaning in Trauma and Loss, Irene Smith Landsman2. The Meaning of Your Absence: Traumatic Loss and Narrative Reconstruction Robert A. Neimeyer, Luis Botella, Olga Herrero, Meritxell Pacheco, Sara Figueras and Luis Alberto Werner-Wildner3. How Could God? Loss and the Spiritual Assumptive World, Kenneth Doka4. Questionable Assumptions About Assumptive Worlds, Tom AttigRelationships With Self and Others5. The Harm of Trauma: Pathological Fear, Shattered Assumptions, or Betrayal? Anne P. DePrince and Jennifer J. Freyd6. The Assumptive World in the Context of Transference Relationships: A Contribution to Grief Theory, Daniel Liechty7. A Self-Psychological Study of Experiences of Near Loss of Life One's Own Life or the Dying or Death of a Close Relative: The Shattered-Fantasy Model of Traumatic Loss, Richard B. Ulman and Maria T. MilioraPsychological Processes8. Treatment of Violated Assumptive Worlds with EMDR, Roger M. Solomon9. Coping with Challenges to Assumpitive Worlds, Charles A. Corr10. Beyond the Beveled Mirror: Mourning and Recovery from Childhood Maltreatment, Sandra L. Bloom11. The "Curse" of Too Good a Childhood, Therese A. Rando12. The Assumptive World of Children, Linda GoldmanTraumatic Loss and What Cannot Be Said13. Safety and the Assumptive World: A Theory of Traumatic Loss, Jeffrey Kauffman14. What Cannot Be Remembered or Forgotten, Henry Krystal15. Parting Words: Trauma, Silence and Survival, Cathy CaruthPostscript by Colin Murray ParkesIndex