Reflective Essay On Loss Theory

Loss Theory

On reflection Mr Young’s case, I could identify that he required support to make sense of his loss, despite his diagnosis of early onset dementia. Mr Young’s long term partner just died during his hospital admission. According to Freud (1971), stress, grief and loss produce a mixture of physical and psychological reasons which are closely related with the social pressure about changes in status. He further stressed that these are often accompanied by financial problems; in this case, Mr Young’s problems was associated to accommodation in addition to losing his companion.

Parkes (1972) carried out a study of twenty-two widows in London, he studied the notion that bereavement suggests that grief is an illness as well as emotional and physiological symptoms cause’s people to go to their doctors for help because they experience physical discomfort and disturbance of function. He went on to say; newly bereaved people are frequently treated as sick by the society. I can quite agree with this statement, in many cultures, a bereaved person is expected to stay at home for a long period, for example, some cultures and religions have official guideline of duration of mourning. For example, a Muslim widow is expected to be in mourning for a period of four months and ten days, during this period, she is expected to stay at home. Although for a

(HM Government, 2013). The assessment and outcome enables me to work in partnership with Mr Young and his family bearing in mind power imbalance between social worker and client. I am aware of how frightened hospital environment could be, especially when client feel they are not in control of their destiny and someone else is making or part of decision making in their lives, especially when various professionals are given different feedback or advice to