Working with grief, loss and the issues that surround it could be said to be one of the core skills of social work practice. As social work professionals, we are expected to intervene usually at times of crisis. Consequently, Loss has often been identified as one of the key stressors at the root of many given crises. This could be the loss of employment, a home, the breakdown of a relationship, the loss of one’s health through debilitating illness or through the death of a loved one or friend. These are all examples of losses that can have a profound effect on an individual’s life and well-being, It is, however, the latter of these forms of loss that is of central importance to this essay. Death and the loss of a loved one is something many …show more content…
What this student raised here is a strong example of the difficulty people can have to understand, not only the grief of an ex-spouse, but indeed, of any form of grief that could be said to sit outside of societies norms for example, perinatal deaths can be said to cause strong grief reactions, yet society views them as minor. The loss of a pet also can cause a tremendous sense of loss for some individuals, Yet, many find themselves grieving in isolation, to express their grief would likely be met with insensitivity (Janssen 2015). Dependent on the person that died and the grievers relationship to the deceased can also have an effect on the way in which ones expected to grieve, for example, the deceased could have been a criminal, therefore, their death could be seen as a positive. In some cultures, it could also be argued that the loss of a partner in a same-sex relationship is not seen to be as worthy of grief or bereavement. Therefore, for grief to constitute as disenfranchised, an individual experiences grief, however, that grief is not acknowledged, socially validated or publicly observed by their given culture or immediate environment (Doka …show more content…
Cleiren and Diekstra (1995) believe that the symptoms of problematic adaption in suicide bereavement are not unlike those from any other kind of bereavement (Jordon 2011) for them a survivor of suicide will pass through the usual five stages of grief, which according to Kubler-Ross & Kessler (2005) are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. However, in an analysis of Kubler-Ross & Kessler’s work it is clear that them themselves believed that the five stages of change are unlikely to be so linear when the grief involves the loss through suicide, as they state “Grief over a loved one’s suicide is its own type of grief, there is the added sense of guilt and anger, but also shame. Families are left with an enormous stigma around the suicide” (2005:183). As we will discuss shortly, it is likely that it is this sense of guilt and the stigma surrounding suicide that sets it apart from any other form of
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.
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).
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.
The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science Tells Us about Life after Loss, written by George A. Bonanno, illustrates the ways in which different people deal with loss in different ways and even so, most of us are resilient to loss. Death is an inevitable phase every person must face. Throughout one’s life, everybody is destined to confront the pain of death in his or her lifetime. But how do we cope? Is there a “correct” or “normal” way, or length of time we are supposed to use, to recover after a major loss? Bonanno delves into the ways in which we deal with grief and loss that are contrary to what people generally presume. We may be surprised, even hurt, by a loss, but we still manage to pull ourselves back together and move on. One of the recurring arguments made in The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science Tells Us about Life after Loss is that resilience after loss is real, prevailing, and enduring. Bonanno is able to provide much compelling evidence to show the different patterns or trajectories of grief reactions across time shown by bereaved people. He also explains thoroughly how grief is not work by elucidating the ways emotions work to help us deal with demanding environments. Bonanno is successful in allowing the readers to be conscious of what people are grieving after a major loss – they don’t grieve facts, they grieve what they remember. In addition, Bonanno explains how death elicits both terror and curiosity to help his readers conceptualize death. Bonanno essentially articulates that resilience is both genuine and lasting because it is in our human capacity to thrive in the face of adversity.
The Death of Ivan Illych brings an excellent in-depth description of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s 5 cycles of grief theory. In the book, it shows how Ivan Illych goes through these cycles in their own individual way. The cycles that Kubler-Ross uses in her theory are: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. To get a better understanding of these cycles, this paper will describe each cycle and provide quotations that will help develop an idea of how someone going through these cycles may react.
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...
Young, Ilanit Tal, et al. “Suicide Bereavement and Complicated Grief.” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, Les Laboratoires Servier, June 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384446/.
The four tasks are: “the need to grieve, to find support, to deal with practical issues, and to come to an acceptance that a loss has occurred (Hall, 2008, p. 200). The first task to grieve is just accepting that loss, or change has occurred, (Hall, 2008). Seems simple enough, but it is complex and can be mixed with anger, denial, numbness, and shock (Hall, 2008). These types of feelings are normal, and when a person allows their self to grieve they may for a while feel depressed, lonely, sleep disturbances, etc., (Hall, 2008). The next task to find support is often provided by family, but can also be provided by friends, and community (Hall, 2008). When families have support, it makes the first and third task easier to accomplish (Hall, 2008). Without support, it takes families longer to heal than normal because they may feel isolated (Hall,
...g, Virginia, to attend a five-day counseling session. Prior to the session, the participants were tested to assess their knowledge of the grieving process and determine the stage of grief they were in at the time. Each day focused on a specific stage of grief in the order in which human beings normally progress. Discussions included the topics unveiled during the literature survey along with spiritual and psychological counseling. At the end of the session, the participants were retested to reassess their knowledge and stage of grief.
As a social worker, I consider it an honor when people walk through my office door and even more so when they do it continuously I know it is hard to reach out when you are struggling. I have had the struggle many times in my life. As with me, I know there needs to be a sense of feeling safe in order to start the process of dealing with. why my office threshold was broken. I think Courtois and Ford (2014) hit the head on the nail when it comes to personal safety and safe relationship being critical to the process to begin working with traumatized individuals. One of the first priorities when working with someone who has experienced trauma is to make sure safety outside of the office isn’t endurance to healing. If the person is dealing with domestic violence, parents abusing them or suicidal thoughts they won’t be in learning mode but survival mode. Another consideration is creating an atmosphere in the office that the person feels safe to discussing these issues in the first place.
Individuals assuming the bereavement role may experience this role several instances throughout their lifetime, each instance of bereavement being exclusive to the circumstance and varying in its own way (Cutcliffe, 2002). A novice nurse will face the task of bringing the bereaved individuals difficult news and updates about their loved one. It will take an immense amount of courage and patience to allow the individual whether it is the patient, family, or another nurse to grasp the loss (Leming, 2016). The stages of bereavement are thought to have 5 steps, each with its own length of time and intensity that varies from person to person (Cutcliffe, 2002). Initially the bereavement role begins with denial and isolation, which may then lead to anger followed by a form of bargaining that can in many cases result in a dark hole of depression but with the hope that the final stage will be that of acceptance (Cutcliffe, 2002). During these stages, the bereaved individual receives a hall pass for completion of any routine social obligations (Leming, 2016). In addition, it is acceptable for them to become reliant on others for all levels of support, which may include activities of daily living such as cooking meals (Leming, 2016). For the bereaved individual to cope effectively, each step in the stages of bereavement must be is accomplished to reach a level of normal social functioning which is the unspoken goal. While the bereavement role varies in length of time per the individual and the circumstance, there is a practical time allotted, as bereavement should not be long-lived, but rather transitory (Leming,
Worden’s theory (1996) involves four fundamental tasks of mourning that he believes must be completed for a person or family system to return to equilibrium and to successfully grieve a loss. These...
In the event of losing something dear and close to one’s heart, there are certain changes to individual’s life cycle, grief and loss response. Grief is defined by the online Merriam – Webster dictionary as a “deep and poignant distress caused by bereavement,” where bereavement refers to “suffering the death of a loved one.” Every age group has a different way of adapting to such loss. Loss can happen to anyone and at any time during life’s journey. Within the nursing profession, it is important to understand grief and loss experienced by the patients and families and response professionally. In this essay, discussion will be focus on middle adulthood age group and their reaction to grief and loss. This essay will also discusses the analysis of these effects using Kubler Ross and her theories to explain the stages of grief and loss that a 42 year old male is going through after being recently diagnosed with end stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is married with children and going through the process of accepting death and dying. Nursing strategies will also be explored on how to care for such patients.