This extraordinary resource celebrates and expands on Dr. David Spiegel's discovery that a shared intimacy with mortality creates very different concerns in the patient from those that apply in conventional settings. Spiegel and Classen introduce mental health professionals to the awareness as well as the tools they will need to facilitate groups coping with existential crises. The result is a model for helping that actually helps.

David Spiegel, M.D. (Professor, Stanford School of Medicine), is a psychiatrist and author known for the study in which this book is rooted and for his related work on dissociation and hypnosis.

Catherine Classen, Ph.D. (Professor, Stanford School of Medicine), collaborates with him on researching the benefits of group psychotherapy and conducts workshops for cancer patients internationally.