The loss of a loved one and the process of grief is one of the most traumatic experiences. It breaks down and pushes past the barriers of society, religion, and culture. It is one of the world’s great mysteries that are unavoidable and misunderstood. As universal as it is, grief often is experienced on a personal/individual level and the impact it takes weighs heavily on the psychological functioning of many. Distress comes not only to the person who lost something or someone, but also families, friends and communities. Everyone is affected by grief. Societies have developed a range of rituals and customs to enable grief support. The customs vary throughout cultures, religions and ethnicities. Some mourn through Funeral services (parlors) while others may bury right away and mourn Shiva in the comfort of their own homes. Some have burials, others prefer cremation. Eulogies, obituaries, biographies, there are multitudes of ways to celebrate and spread the news of the loss of a loved one and the celebration of life. There are also clinical and non-clinical forms of grief management. In recent years studies have shown that there has been a significant and fast growing addition to these historic rituals. The internet has supported new formations for the expression of grief. It provides a new found path to further share bereavement through social and occupational tools.
In the article, “The Internet: A tool to Normalize grief”; Sally Dominick and Blair Irvine explain to their readers that there has been over 60 years of research documentation that include examples of physical and cognitive reaction as well as negative and affective reactions-sadness and the experience of relief and emancipation. With all this at hand, behav...
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Grieving in the Internet Age: New Zealand Journal of Psychology, Volume 40 No.3
www.questia.com, internet, social networks
Goldberg, Stephanie; (2010) Grief finds connection, healing online
www.cnn.com, internet social networks
Yates, Diana (2010). Researchers analyze student grief online after campus shootings.
News Bureau University of Illinois, www.news.illinois/10/1020internet-greiving.html
Subbaraman, Nidhi (2014). An unlively chat:Skype with the dead with Eterni.me
NBC, Todays.com, techonology reports
www.today.com/tech/unlively-chat-skype-dead-eterni-me2D12024238
I have had the privilege to walk alongside many people on their grief journeys. Throughout my thirty years of assisting others, I have developed a model of grief processing I call the Berafian Model. This model allows me an opportunity to work with various ages as well as cultural backgrounds.
As in the stages of change, pre-contemplation or denial is followed by the slow understanding that a profound alteration in our lives is occurring. In this early stage, Deits encourages the reader to focus on the immediate personal needs of the grief stricken. Early in this pr...
Grief can arise from loss, whether large-scale or small, and may not be easily removed once it takes hold. Because of grief’s obstinate nature, many approaches have been developed in order to handle the repressive, and often painful, effects it can have on people’s lives. One of those approaches is Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s theory, The Five Stages of Grief. In Sierra Skye Gemma’s essay, “The Wrong Way”, she juxtaposes her own personal experiences with grief against Kübler-Ross’s hypothesis. Gemma uses her confessional, combined with empirical evidence that contradicts the Five Stages of Grief, to demonstrate that feelings of grief are unique to the individual; therefore, there is no right way to mourn.
Sakinofsky, I. (2007). The Aftermath of Suicide: Managing Survivors' Bereavement. Canadian Journal Of Psychiatry, 52129S-136S.
The characters in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones are faced with the difficult task of overcoming the loss of Susie, their daughter and sister. Jack, Abigail, Buckley, and Lindsey each deal with the loss differently. However, it is Susie who has the most difficulty accepting the loss of her own life. Several psychologists separate the grieving process into two main categories: intuitive and instrumental grievers. Intuitive grievers communicate their emotional distress and “experience, express, and adapt to grief on a very affective level” (Doka, par. 27). Instrumental grievers focus their attention towards an activity, whether it is into work or into a hobby, usually relating to the loss (Doka par. 28). Although each character deals with their grief differently, there is one common denominator: the reaction of one affects all.
According to a study, many difficult cultures have the tendency to establish their methods of coping, whether it is through religion, culture, or/and personal ideologies (Chen, 2012). Mourning and burial ceremonies play a pivotal role for Lossography due to individuals having the ability and liberty to express melancholy and sometimes jubilation during the times they once had with their loved one. These types of beliefs and practices used as coping mechanisms can be very meaningful and profound for the comfort of the individual who’s going through a mournful experience (Chen, 2012). These types of coping mechanisms is important for Lossography, due to the fact that individuals are able to convey emotions through traditional practices, archaic arts and crafts, and spiritual rituals to fully find meaning with the death of their loved one. In addition, having established beliefs can definitely change the perception of what death signifies based upon religious and cultural expectations of the afterlife. However, not all cultures and religions put much emphasis into the afterlife. For instance, the monotheistic religion Judaism does not contain any interpretation of what happens after someone dies. Judaists believe that nothing happens after death, death is considered a taboo and not something that is commonly talked about for these religious individuals. Lossography, in religion may take on many forms for how death is perceived and for what actions can people take to ensure that their death will bring them to a place of peace, joy, and everlasting life. Lossography regarding religion, gives individuals hope that death is not the end, it gives them hope that knowing that person may not be here with us in the flesh, but that person is somewhere smiling down. Lossography in religion,
The way one grieves during the loss of a loved one may differentiate based on culture, but sadness is usually the one common denominator that exists universally. How one expresses their emotions, or handles death, may depend on religious and cultural influences. Gupta (2011) writes, “In India, Hindu family members are expected to cry and wail loudly as it is considered healthy to have an outburst of strong emotions” (p. 255). The manner in which Islamic Muslim culture is expected to respond to death is much different. In relation to how emotions are supposed to be expressed by Islamic Muslims when grieving, Appel and Papaikonomou (2013) write, “The emotions of crying and sadness clearly evident had to be performed in a very controlled manner, hence no screaming, shouting or wailing” (p. 455). Where crying and outbursts are acceptable in Hindu culture, Islamic Muslim culture only accepts a more controlled approach to grieving. Both cultures experience a need to demonstrate sadness when grieving, but how and where emotions are expressed, is altered based on cultural beliefs and influences. Differences in culture may also impact the five stages of grieving as explained by Dr. Kubler-Ross
Devito, Joseph A. "Communicating with the Grief Stricken." Devito, Joseph A. The Interpersonal Communication Book. Boston: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon, 2009. 175.
Sylvia Grider. “Public Grief and the Politics of Memorial.” Anthropology Today (London), June 2007, 3-7. Print.
It is common for those experiencing grief to deny the death altogether. Many people do this by avoiding situations and places that remind them of the deceased (Leming & Dickinson, 2016). However, by simply avoiding the topic of death and pain, the mourner only achieves temporary relief while in turn creating more permanent lasting agony (Rich, 2005). In this stage, mourners will begin to feel the full weight of the circumstance. Whether the death of a loved one was sudden or long-term, survivors will feel a full range of emotions, such as sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, hopelessness, or grief. While many of these emotions can cause serious suffering, it is important for the survivor to feel whatever emotions come up and deal with those feelings, rather than trying to suppress any
Imagine that the person you love most in the world dies. How would you cope with the loss? Death and grieving is an agonizing and inevitable part of life. No one is immune from death’s insidious and frigid grip. Individuals vary in their emotional reactions to loss. There is no right or wrong way to grieve (Huffman, 2012, p.183), it is a melancholy ordeal, but a necessary one (Johnson, 2007). In the following: the five stages of grief, the symptoms of grief, coping with grief, and unusual customs of mourning with particular emphasis on mourning at its most extravagant, during the Victorian era, will all be discussed in this essay (Smith, 2014).
Grief can be defined as the natural reaction to loss. Grief is both a universal and personal experience (Mayo Clinic, 2014). Individual experiences of grief vary and are influenced by the nature of the loss (Mayo Clinic, 2014). There are multiple different theories that have attempted to explain the complex process of grief and loss. Theorists such as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, William Worden and John Bowbly explain in their theories how they believe an individual deals with the grieving process. In this essay, I will be focusing on William Worden’s theory and will be discussing the process for a child aged nine to eleven.
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.
While the end of life experience is universal, the behaviors associated with expressing grief are very much culturally bound. Death and grief being normal life events, all cultures have developed ways to cope with death in a respectful manner, and interfering with these practices can disrupt people’s ability to cope during the grieving
The purpose of this session was to set a framework for group members to realize that there are different stages of grieving and that the process can be complicated. Furthermore during the session it is hoped that they will also come to recognize that no two persons share the same path when grieving. However, there is still a common experience that some people share which is the loss which can lead to feelings of low self-esteem. ‘This will be done through Impact therapy where they will be encouraged to be active, thinking, seeing and experiencing during the session activities’ (Jacobs Ed, Schimmel J. Christine 2013).