Introduction
Grief counseling, or also known as bereavement counseling is a kind of counseling where it deals with individuals who are reacting to trauma related grief. One of the characteristics of bereavement counseling as mentioned in Wheeler-Roy and Amyot (2004)’s guide is that bereavement counselors have to see the bereaved people as teachers, the bereaved are the own experts on their grief, thus it should be the bereaved that would be teaching the counselors on their experience. A bereaved counselor should never set and construct goals or expectations of what should the bereaved be feeling.
Grief counseling is not new to the counseling field. In 1917 Sigmund Freud published a paper “Mourning and Melancholia”, where in the paper the processes: cathexis, decathexis and hypercathexis were discussed on. These processes include withdrawing emotional energy from the deceased, to becoming detached, and to review thoughts and memories of the deceased. Freud believed that through this process, though painful, only then can the bereaved achieve detachment with the deceased. This theory then became one of the fundamental factors in understanding grief throughout the later years (Malton, 2012).
Fast forwarding to our current society, Freud’s theory has been built upon by other grief researchers, deriving new concepts on the grieving experience (Wright & Hogan, 2008). With these new concepts, grief counseling has also become more popular as it deals with teaching us on how to cope with death and loss of a loved one, grief would also encourage personal growth if dealt with correctly.
Case Summary
In October 2013, Marc and two of his friends were going home after a Halloween party organized by their school, three of them never made ...
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...f counseling: The first include professional services provided by trained social workers, psychologists, and doctor or nurses. Second type is the services in which volunteers are selected, trained, and supported by professionals. The third type of service involves self help groups in which people who had loss the loved one, give help to other people who are experiencing the same thing.
Grief counseling is not necessarily to process in a professional office, although it can be done that way. Parkes(1980) support this and say: “Telephone contacts and office consultations are no substitutes for home visits.” The counseling sessions does not necessarily need to take place in a more formal office setting (even when the counselor wants to make a clear contract with the client on the goals and objectives of their interactions) because home visits are a useful way as well.
When it comes to required academic reading, I can be a rather fussy reviewer. After all, I don’t get to choose the books that I read – they’re required. However, Life after Loss is a purposeful and very well thought-out book. Author Bob Deits paints a picture of grief in a very honest, if not blunt, manner that seldom repeats itself. The anecdotes used (even if he used the annoying tactic of making them up) were engaging and inspiring. Each chapter was concise, uncluttered, and easy to read, and bullet points were used sparingly and to good effect. In this soup to nuts introduction to the grief process, the physical, emotional, and relationship elements of this difficult topic were presented in a strength based and compassionate way.
The grief therapist also has to identify the grieving style of the bereaved individual. There are two types of grieving styles a client can display intuitive and instrumental. Intuitive grievers communicate their feelings and want to share their grief experience with others (Winokuer & Harris, 2012, p. 88). In contrast, Instrumental grievers portray their grief cognitively and behaviorally via thoughts, self-reflection, and actions (Winokuer & Harris, 2012, p. 88). In Knowing the type of grief style the client shows can help the therapist decide what task or activities a client would benefit from. For instance, instrumental grievers may benefit from exercises such as journaling or writing letters to and from the deceased (narrative therapy).
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.
...metimes counsel the grieving, classes or courses in grief counselling would come in handy to attend before becoming a funeral service worker ( “Funeral Service” para. 25).
This article investigates the need for expanded grief interventions in the ID population. The authors look at a growing interest in the signs of grief that cause long term problems while acknowledging that too little is known about the grieving
Back in November I wrote about how the field is shifting it’s thinking on complicated grief and some of the controversy surrounding the changes to grief as an exclusionary criteria for depression. I still agree that the change was a step in the right direction and with that in mind, we’re going to look at how CBT can be useful in addressing avoidance behaviors within the context of complicated grief.
In Freud’s view, the difference between traumatic loss and the mourning is that a loss will not be a permanent trauma, but be considered as normal bereavement. Individuals effected by trauma, experience major mood of pain and display loss of interest in their surrounding (p. 46).
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.
Leming, M., & Dickinson, G. (2011). Understanding dying, death, & bereavement. (7th ed., pp. 471-4). Belmont, California: Wadsworth.
Grieving is the outward expression of your loss. Every individual grief is likely to be expressed physically, emotionally, and psychologically. For instance, crying is a physical expression, while depression is a psychological expression. It is very important to allow the client to express these feelings. Often, death is a subject that is avoided, ignored or denied. At first it may be helpful
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.
All of my life, until I was eighteen years old, I didn’t understand the concept of grieving. Grief just hasn’t been something I’ve ever had to experience before. Because of my lack of experience I had no understanding of what grieving felt like. All of his changed for me on July 29th.
Nurses work in many situations where they will observe patients and their families experiencing grief and loss. In order for patients to receive the utmost care it is imperative for nurses to have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of these theories and the stages of grief and loss to facilitate support to their patients and their patients families.
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