Chapter 37 The experience of loss, death, & grief

Question 1

How one grieves depends on?

Answer 1

Cultural norms, belief systems, support systems, & personal faith

Question 2

A maturational loss is a?

Answer 2

Form of necessary loss and includes all normally expected life changes across the life span
-associated with normal life transitions & they help people develop coping skills to use when they experience unplanned, unwanted, or unexpected loss

Question 3

Sudden, unpredictable external events bring about?

Answer 3

Situational loss
-person in car accident sustains injury with physical changes that make it impossible to return to work/school, leading to loss of function, income, life goals, & self-esteem

Question 4

Actual loss vs perceived loss

Answer 4

Actual loss- occurs when a person can no longer feel, hear, see, or know a person or object (loss of body part, death of family, loss of job)
Perceived loss- uniquely defined by the person experiencing the loss & is less obvious to other people (rejection by a friend that creates loss of confidence or changes their status in social group). How the individual interprets the meaning of the perceived loss affects the intensity of the grief response.
-perceived losses are easy to overlook but are just as painful as actual losses

Question 5

Mourning is

Answer 5

The outward, social expressions of grief and the behavior associated with loss. Most mourning rituals are culturally influenced, learned behaviors.
-Example: The jewish mourning ritual of Shivah is a time period when normal life activities come to a stop. Those mourning welcome friends & family into the home as a way of honoring the dead and receive support during the mourning period

Question 6

Define bereavement

Answer 6

Encompasses both grief and mourning and includes the emotional responses & outward behaviors of a person experiencing loss
-should be encouraged to talk about loss & reassured that the feelings are normal and that major decisions should be postponed

Question 7

Normal (uncomplicated) grief

Answer 7

Complex, emotional, cognitive, social, physical, behavioral, & spiritual responses to loss & death

• disbelief, yearning,anger, depression
• helpful coping mechanisms include: hardiness & resilience, a personal sense of control, & the ability to make sense of and identify positive possibilities after a loss

Question 8

Disenfranchised grief

Answer 8

People experience this grief when their relationship to the deceased is not socially sanctioned, cannot be shared openly, or seems of lesser significance
-examples: death of former spouse, married lover, incarcerated person or terminated pregnancy

Question 9

Ambiguous loss

Answer 9

-uncertainty, a type of disenfranchised grief, can occur when the lost person is physically present but not psychologically available as in dementia or brain injury, other times it could be from a kidnapping, prisoner of war, or no body found

Question 10

Complicated grief

Answer 10

A person has a prolonged or significantly difficult time moving forward after a loss.

• 4 different types:
  1) Chronic grief: normal grief response, extends for longer period of time, years-decades on intense grieving
  2) Exaggerated grief: self destruction or maladaptive behavior, obsessions, or psychiatric disorders. Suicide risk
  3) Delayed grief: unusually delayed or postponed because loss is so overwhelming. Frequently triggered by a second loss, sometimes not as significant as first
  4) Masked grief: Sometimes a grieving person behaves in ways that interfere with normal functioning but is unaware that the disruptive behavior is a result of the loss & ineffective grief resolution