Loss : The Many Faces Of Grief

Loss is a phenomenon that is experienced by all. Death is experienced by family members as a unique and elevated form of loss which is modulated by potent stages of grief. Inevitably, everyone will lose someone with whom they had a personal relationship and emotional connection and thus experience an aftermath that can generally be described as grief. Although bereavement, which is defined as a state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one, is a universal experience it varies widely across gender, age, and circumstance (definitions.net, 2015). Indeed the formalities and phases associated with bereavement have been recounted and theorized in literature for years. These philosophies are quite diverse but

For some bereavement is an unpredictable and traumatic experience, the loss of a loved one may evoke in the individual you support, behaviours and emotions you have not seen

Later, Prigerson et al. (1999) researched disordered grief and found a number of differences as related to anxiety and depression. Both Horowitz and Prigerson’s studies found similarities in that participants had prolonged longing for the deceased, extreme impairing thoughts about the deceased, extreme denial of the death and avoidance ( Boelen & Prigerson, 2007).

Culture can be defined as the ideals and the knowledge of groups confined in a particular society. There is a broad difference in emotional processing of grief among individuals within any culture. Each culture holds a different and distinctive belief and norms. For instance in some cultures, death is perceived to involve different circumstance, like sleep, illness, and old age. While in others death is to occur only when there is

Loss affects people in various ways, but especially when it is the loss of someone they are in close relations to, whether it is a loved one, relative or good friend. Going through the physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual impacts that come with the events of a death can really influence the life of the person dealing with the loss. Understanding how people grieve after experience a traumatic event such as death and dying was the main influence for Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ study which developed into the model we are familiar with now: Kübler-Ross 5 Stages of Grief (Sotelo, Livingood, Sanden, & Webb, 2015). Death, dying and grief are things that every person will face one way or another, and how people react and live on

Over the second half of this semester, we have learned many different concepts and phases regarding the death of a loved one. Overall, we learned and recognized the difference between funeral rites and body disposition, the five stages of bereavement and how different survivors may respond to the death of a loved one, the different options of support groups available for families, how to support the bereaved and what death might be like in the future, etc. Everyone is different, every culture is different and every religion is different, so it is important to learn the psychology surrounding these areas when regarding the death of a loved one. Throughout this paper, I will be outlining some major topics we have learned thus far in the semester

2014, pp.510). It is important to note, as Castle and Phillips (2003, pp.42) illustrates, that grief should not be seen as having solely elements of suffering and pain, however it can also be considered a reminder of an ongoing relationship to the deceased, which may include those qualities of comfort and connection toward those who have passed. In terms of grief, Lee et al. (2010, pp. 507) discusses that the most common grief response among Western grievers were bargaining, followed by acceptance, depression, anger, denial, and isolation. Furthermore, Neimeyer, Klass and Dennis (2014, pp.485) shows that in contrast to Western conceptions of bereavement which views grieving as seeking meaning through personal and familial transitions, other cultures, relate grief toward broader community and cultural spheres. Putting this into consideration, Balk (2006, pp.87) places emphasis on the diversity of our world and thus, there is also a great diversity of views, attitudes and behaviours regarding death and grief. Therefore, using examples of grief reactions and expressions within certain populations in Asia, will facilitate diverse and culturally understanding perspectives of grief which can be further

Everyone experiences a very strong and sometimes overwhelming emotion, known as grief. As overwhelming as this emotion can be, it is a natural response for most human beings. Grief is known differently among individuals; some know it as “the mourning process” and others know it as a cultural expectation. This period of grief can also be known as bereavement which means experiencing loss, but only for a period, not forever. Besides how it is known, it is most commonly experienced after the loss of a loved one, or after receiving life threatening news. It is very important to know about grief and the stages it includes along with the peripheral issues associated with the grieving process. The stages of grief include loss,

Bereavement is a chronic, multifaceted psychological process of readjustment to a severe loss that is distinctly different from depression, or having a major depressive episode, although it may outwardly appear to be similar to it in many cases. Grief and mourning are both said to accompany grief with the former being defined as an internal feeling or an emotional and physical process, while the latter is defined as ritualistic acts that one engages in during bereavement in order to socially display their grief. Although bereavement is not depression, the newest edition of the DSM recognizes that bereavement can become complicated or maladaptive, as well as be coupled with depression, in which case it would

Behavioral Impacts of Bereavement. Lindemann reported that acute grief produces a ´´loss of patterns of conduct´´ (1944, p. 44) routines are shot. Agitated restlessness is common; that is, the person just can´t keep still for even a short period of time. Crying is common. Some persons take up dangerous behaviors such as drinking excessively, smoking, or promiscuously engaging in sex. Scanning crowds to find the person who has died is common on the first few months following a death. Turning to religious practices such as praying or reading Scriptures offers comfort to some. For grievers whose faith the death has undermined, religious practices repel

While the bereavement process may be a universal chapter of life, the experience itself is conclusively subjective. Specifically for younger individuals, bereavement is a very complex encounter because developmental factors must be considered. The loss of an individual in a child’s life is heavily influenced on the time in which it occurs because coping mechanisms may or may not be developed. For example, if a child does not understand the context of death, they most likely will not have adequate coping skills to process this life-changing experience. Children and adolescents who are facing bereavement may face developmental relapse as well as changes in social, behavioral, emotional, and physiological domains (Osterweis, 1984).

Grief is a journey unique to each individual that is structured through culture, religious beliefs, personality, age, gender and ethnicity among other things, it may be experienced as a inevitability or a devastation (Smit, 2015). It is defined as the normal and natural response to a loss in all of its totality, thus referring to physical, spiritual, emotional, cognitive and social experiences of the loss (Smit, 2015). The most commonly used model of grief is the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross or 5 stage model, this model expects that everyone grieving would go through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance in said order (Smit, 2015). However, individuals may

Bereavement an an unexpected life event in someone’s life however we all expect to lose someone close in our lives. Now unfortunately with that it comes with feeling lonely,confused,anxious and sad.Diffrent people deal with grief diffenlty depending on who you have lost and how you lost them. There are so many unanswered questions about bereavement, however its important to remember that bereavement doesn’t come with a rule book nor a time limit in which it needs to be comIn this booklet I will explain how to different individuals share both similarities and differences involving grief. Person A is my history teacher and SLT Mr key. Sir is currently in his early 30s living in Lincolnshire.hes currently married and has 2 children meaning that

Losing someone or something you love or care deeply about is very painful. You may experience all type of different emotions are normal reactions. Grief is a natural response to loss. Grieving is a personal experience. How we grieve depends on our personality and coping style, our life experience and our faith. The grieving process takes time. There is no normal time for grieving. Some people start to feel better within weeks or even months. But for others, the grieving process is measured in years. Whatever your experience is, it’s important to be patient with yourself and allow to naturally take its course. Some never totally recover from the loss of a loved one.

The process of grieving “describe the reaction to the death of a love one” as a sequence of phases and conditions that all must go through all the conditions in a set order (Bjorklund, 2015, p. 345).