Loss and Grief Flashcards
What is loss?
Can be physical, relational, or symbolic, and it means to be deprived of, or ceasing to have something one formerly possessed.
What are the different types of losses?
Physical - death and non-death
Relational - divorce, adoption, foster care
Symbolic - loss of freedom, safety and security, etc.
What is bereavement?
Objective situation of having lost someone significant
What is grief?
The reactions at responses to loss or bereavement?
What is mourning?
The sordid expression or acts expressive of grief
What was Freud’s traditional psychoanalytic theory on grief?
Argued that the person needs to talk about traumatic experiences in order to get over them - that was the only way to invest in new relationships.
Describe LIndemann’s work
Interviewed people who experienced death in a major way. He created different categories for grief (normal, abnormal, delayed, etc.)
What is Bowlby’s attachment theory in the perspective of understanding grief?
Grief is similar to that of a young child separated from parent (numbness, searching, despair) - but Bowlby allowed for continuing connection to the deceased, unlike Freud
What is the stage theory?
Kubler and Ross (1969) created five stages of loss - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Describe Parkes psychosocial transitions theory
Concerns rebuilding a damaged and assumptive world, with four key stages:
- shock and numbness
- yearning and searching
- disorganization and despair
- reorganization
What is Worden’s task theory?
Argued that people need to complete certain tasks in order to move on:
- accept reality of loss
- Work through pain and grief
- Adjust to new environment in which the deceased is missing
- Emotionally relocate the deceased and move on with life
What are the limitations of traditional theories?
Based on a lot of assumptions such as significant distress and delayed grief.
Absence of positive emotions, and indicative of denying distress if there are positive emotions
Bereaved mUST work through loss or it’ll eat you up inside.
But where’s the empirical evidence?? It emphasizes unhealthy grieving patterns!
What are the contemporary theories?
- Meaning making theory
- Dual process theory
- Continuing bonds
What is the meaning making theory
Neimeyer suggested that grieving requires us to make sense of the loss, and we seek the meaning of the loss experiences through social and cultural factors
What is the dual process theory?
People oscillate between two orientations, according to Stroebe and Schut (2001): loss orientation (grief) and restoration orientation (attempts to rebuild life)
What is the continuing bonds theory?
Klass, Silverman, and Nickman challenged the traditional view of letting go, an argued that the relationship with the deceased continues after death. Patients experienced feeling the presence of the one that passed away
What is disenfranchised loss?
When a person experiences a loss but it cannot be recognized (e.g., extra-marital lover, ex-spouse); or the loss is not recognized, or griever is not recognized.
What is ambiguous loss?
Occurs when there is a physical presence and a psychological absence, or vice versa.
What factors affect grief responses?
- Gender - men should grieve one way, and women another. But everyone’s different.
- Social support - it’s necessary for people to cope with social support, but it’s also different from person to person
- Religious beliefs - it’s not that religious people grieve better than other groups
- Class and culture - social classes, cultural expectations
- Circumstances of death - a sudden or unexpected loss is more difficult
- History of loss and/or trauma - if there’s an extensive history, it’s harder
What is prolonged grief disorder?
Characterized by intense yearning for the person and identity confusion, difficulty accepting the loss, etc. Sometimes called complicated, pathological, or abnormal grief
