First published 2019 by:
Australian Academic Press Group Pty. Ltd.
www.australianacademicpress.com.au
Copyright © Ross G Menzies & Rachel E Menzies 2019.
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ISBN 9781925644357 (paperback)
ISBN 9781925644364 (hardback)
ISBN 9781925644371 (ebook)
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made in preparing this work to provide information based on accepted standards and practice at the time of publication. The publisher and author, however, make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Publisher and editor: Stephen May
Cover illustration: Morgan Lawrence
Cover design: Luke Harris, Working Type Studio
Page design and Typesetting: Australian Academic Press
Printing: Lightning Source
Dedication
For Helen and Colin, my mother and father, who gave me the finest chance to build a life — RGM
For Lachlan, with whom I’m deeply fortunate to share my moments on earth, however briefly — REM
Contents
Part 1. Theoretical Issues — Rachel E. Menzies
Chapter 1. Cultural responses to death anxiety
Part 2. Case Stories — Ross G. Menzies
Chapter 2. Eating in emergency
Chapter 4. My father’s son
Chapter 5. Dinosaurs are hiding
Chapter 6. Bring me back
Chapter 7. The activist
Chapter 8. The joker
Chapter 9. The architect
Chapter 10. All you need is love
Chapter 11. Purgatory
Part 3. Reflections — Rachel E. Menzies
Chapter 12. Lessons from our clients
References
Ross G. Menzies
Ross Menzies completed his undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees in psychology at the University of NSW. He is currently Professor of Psychology in the Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). In 1991, he was appointed founding Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University of Sydney, a post which he held for over 20 years. He is the past NSW President, and twice National President, of the Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (AACBT). He is the editor of Australia's national CBT journal, Behaviour Change, and has trained psychologists, psychiatrists and allied health workers in CBT around the globe. Professor Menzies is an active researcher with nearly three decades of continuous funding from national competitive sources. He currently holds over $AUS7 million in research funding. He has produced 9 books and more than 200 journal papers and book chapters and was the President and Convenor of the 8th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (WCBCT).
Rachel E. Menzies
Rachel Menzies completed her honours degree in psychology at the University of Sydney, taking out the Dick Thompson Thesis Prize for her work on the dread of death and its relationship to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). She published her first paper on death fears in Clinical Psychology Review as an undergraduate student, and followed this by convening a symposium on the topic at the 8th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies in Melbourne in 2016. Her manuscript on death anxiety and compulsive behaviour was the lead paper in the first edition of the Australian Clinical Psychologist. Her subsequent work on fear of death and psychopathology has been published in several leading international journals, and she can regularly be heard on national radio, popular podcasts and relevant public events (e.g. The Festival of Death and Dying). In 2017, she gave her first invited plenary address on death anxiety, and an invited workshop, at the 47th Congress of the European Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (EABCT). In 2018 she was the lead editor of Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice published by Australian Academic Press. She has just completed an invited workshop tour on the dread of death across seven cities for the Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (AACBT). This is her second book on death anxiety and its impact on mental health.
Rachel E. Menzies