Experiencing a sudden death of a loved one is one of the most difficult life experiences to endure. Sudden death is a shock, which leads families to grief stricken numbness, sorrow and sadness. A person who loses someone significant in his or her life goes through a process called grief it is the psychological process while bereavement is the actual state of suffering the loss. When we suffer emotionally we experience pain, guilt and anger, emotions are the response of the bereaved. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate an understanding of bereavement as it pertains to living with a chronic health challenge and reflect this knowledge as it relates to my resource client living with chronic obstruction pulmonary disease (COPD). Using a descriptive review of five articles will reinforce an understanding of the concept and delineate the theoretical components of bereavement. “Everyone who is bereaved experiences grief in their own way, but just as there are specific issues associated with bereavement of sudden death so there are specific issues for particular people” (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2014). There is neither right nor wrong way for a bereaved survivor to grieve. Literature Reviews Article # 1 Margaret Stroebe, Henk Schut and Wolfgang Stroebe are the authors of the first article titled “Health outcomes of bereavement”. Elsevier limited published it in 2007 for The Lancet, volume 370, issue 9603, and page 1960-1973. The purpose of the study is to evaluate bereavement, physical and mental health as it pertains to grief and the excess risk to mortality. Establishing correlations may help researchers identify bereaved related mental health problems by acknowledging similar behaviors and emotions in order to validate... ... middle of paper ... ...e can develop mental and physical issues. Adjustment and acceptance can sometimes take months or years depending on the severity of their grief. Research indicates that bereavement therapy contains four stages of grieving for the survivor’s the first is adjustment to life without the deceased, accepting reality of loss, experiencing pain and grief, and the final stage is relocating the deceased emotionally, which is the most challenging. Psychotherapists use goal-setting tools as a therapeutic strategy to assist bereaved survivors with the grief process and their desires to regain some normalcy. The survivors evaluate important goals that were achieved to regain their emotional and functional balance. A survivor’s main goal is to recognize that by accepting the loss can help put the loss of a loved one into perspective and allows them to discover a meaningful life.
Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss. Although primarily focused on the emotional reaction to loss, it also carries a physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical connotation. Doctor Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced the idea of the stages of grief in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying. Although it has received much criticism since then, the Kübler-Ross model remains to be the most widely accepted model of grief today. However, as most psychological research conducted in the 20th century was based on people living in the North America and Western Europe, the Kübler-Ross model could be culturally biased.
Breavement is handeled differently in different generations. Weather it is a kid that has a terminal illness or an elderly person who is diagnosed with a terminal illness, each breave differently. Breavement deals with not just someone clsoe dying but, someone themselvs who is diagnosed with a life threatening illness.
In 1969 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychiatrist, published the Pioneering book On Death and Dying. The work acquainted the world with the grieving process, called the five stages of grief. Kübler-Ross gathered her research from studying individuals with terminal cancer (Johnson, 2007). The first stage of the grieving process is denial. In this stage the person refuses to believe that their loved one is deceased, a common thought during this period is, “This can’t be happening to me” (Johnson, 2007).The second stage of the grieving process is anger. In this level the person becomes frustrated with their circumstances, a customary complaint is “Why is this happening to me?” (Johnson, 2007). The third stage of the grieving process is bargaining. At this point the individual hopes that they can prevent their grief, this typically involves bartering with a higher power, and an ordinary observance during this time is “I will do anything to have them back” (Johnson, 2007). The fourth and most identifiable stage of grief is depression. This phase is habitually the lengthiest as...
Individually, everyone has their own methods of dealing with situations and emotions regardless of any positive or negative connotation affixed to them. One prime example of this comes with grief. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying” suggests that there are five stages of mourning and grief that are universal and, at one point or another, experienced by people from all walks of life. These stages, in no particular order, are as follows: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance. Each individual person works through these stages in different orders for varying levels of time and intensity, but most if not all are necessary to “move on.” In order for positive change to occur following a loss, one must come to terms with not only the event but also themselves.
One summer I awoke to the chirping of my cell phone. I was really confused because I had a bunch of notifications. On a normal day I usually only have a couple. When I checked to see what they were, I discovered that they were all concerning my best friend. They all said “I’m so sorry for what happened.” I got really confused and stumbled down the stairs to talk to my mom. When I saw her, she had tears running down her face and she said “He’s gone.” My emotions hit me like a runaway train and I immediately went into a depression. The grieving process had just started and it was awful. Eventually, I knew it was necessary in order to heal. Grief marks our memories with sadness and pain; however, this way of coping is the essential key to moving on with our lives.
Major Depressive Disorder and the “Bereavement Exclusion”. American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 Development. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Bereavement%20Exclusion%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
Upon receiving the news that a loved one had died, those left to mourn, called survivors, often find themselves entangled in a complex web of emotions and reactions. The death of a loved one can be a frightening, overwhelming, and painful experience and the physical, psychological, and social effects of loss are articulated through the practice of grief. Grief has been known to be experienced in five stages called the Five Stages of Grief where each phase of the grieving process will go from initial denial to the slow healing of acceptance. However, the devastating aftermath of a loss of a loved one, coupled with the suffering experienced through the five stages of grief can cause the survivor to commit suicide themselves.
Although bereavement, grief and mourning are usually synonymously linked to death and loss, they each have their own definitive distinctions. Bereavement is the process of suffering a loss. The loss usually is caused by the death of loved one or a close personal relationship such as divorce or even health. Grief is a natural response to those losses which can be expressed physically as well as emotionally. Mourning is indicative of acceptable behavior following the loss of a loved one determined by the varying cultural and ritualistic traditions observed during the time period of bereavement.
Leming, M., & Dickinson, G. (2011). Understanding dying, death, & bereavement. (7th ed., pp. 471-4). Belmont, California: Wadsworth.
Everyone has or will experience a loss of a loved one sometime in their lives. It is all a part of the cycle of life and death. The ways each person copes with this loss may differ, but according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s novel On Death and Dying, a person experiences several stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There is no set time for a person to go through each stage because everyone experiences and copes with grief differently. However, everyone goes through the same general feelings of grief and loss. There are also sections in Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” that connect to the process of grieving: “On Pain,” “On Joy and Sorrow,” and “On Talking.” Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” reflects on Kübler-Ross’s model of the different stages of grief and loss.
Bereaved Parents go through grief, but extremely more intense than the average individual who has lost a loved one. Grief is different for every individual depending on the loss, and person they lost. Regarding implications and policy for grief, my finding point to the need of education around this topic for schools, social workers, hospitals and therapists. More professional’s services should be provided for not just individuals going through grief, but individuals who have lost a child or who have prolonged grief. Support groups and specialize grief interventions should be implanted into communities for families who are having a difficulty adapting to the death of their child. The high rates of marital problems, health related problems and depression should also be addressed. There should be some therapeutic interventions that reach out to bereaved parents
In a longitudinal study of 219 couples, the nature of the circumstances surrounding the death of a child and psychological adjustment were evaluated (Meij et al., 2008). They track symptoms of grief and depression among participants at 6, 13, and 20 months after the death. They found bereaved parents psychological adjustment improved on learning to reconnect and find meaning in the loss. The results showed no gender differences in psychological symptoms. However, bereaved mothers showed considerably more depression than bereaved fathers. The results of the studies suggest bereaved mothers are likely to experience symptoms of complicated grief, and depression after the death of a child.
A. Psychiatric Implications in Bereavement Chicago, Charles C. Thomas. 1974. pg. 78. pg.
Death is one of the hardest things to deal with whether its someone you were close to or just an acquaintance. Comforting someone who is grieving can be just as hard. Word often seem to fall short when trying to help someone cope. However, there are some things you can do to help ease their pain during their grieving process.
Death like life is an inevitable occurrence in the human experience and according to Sigmund Freud, “Although we know that after such a loss the acute state of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute”. Hence, the management of the effects of death becomes necessary to the healing of the human spirit as one tries to cope with the extensive loss and pain associated with losing a loved one. Freud further stated that this gap result in the only way of perpetuating love which we do not want to let go of. This “gap”, according to Freud, has a great impact on the psychological and spiritual well being of human beings and as such the study of Sudden Death is essential to the modern Counselor and clinician.