Complications of Complicated Grief Elevated rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts were associated with a prolonged state of abnormal grief. Cancer, hypertension, and heart problems are more likely to occur after many years, with increased frequency of severe immune deficiencies and reports of immune dysfunction. Disenfranchised Grief Disenfranchised grief is grief that is not usually openly acknowledged, socially accepted, or publicly mourned. Examples of disenfranchised grief include loss of a pet, perinatal losses, elective abortions, loss of a body part, loss of a
Increased incidence of adverse health behaviors and health service provision is impaired, health care facilities are used more extensively, and more sick leave is claimed (Lannen, Wolfe, Prigerson, Onelov & Kreicbergs, 2008).
personality from dementia. It also consists of the loss of a loved one who is not “blood-related,” such as a boyfriend/girlfriend, extramarital lover, in-laws (Cordaro, 2012).
CONTINUING BONDS
changed the way the effects of loss were observed and analyzed at the time. Under the concept of Continuing Bonds, grief has no "phases," "tasks," or "steps" It is not a linear course, so a person may not begin to feel one set of emotions (sadness, shock) and attempt to work through them to get to another set of emotions (acceptance). The writers claim that earlier theories are attempting to "untie" our relationship with the deceased. Instead, their theory says victims of loss slowly change and adapt their relationship with loved ones when they die. Everybody does this in their way, but it is seen as a safe and natural part of the grieving process to continue their relationship. This cycle of adapting and redefining the relationship with a loved one allows for an eternal bond with them, which will continue throughout their lives. This enduring attachment is considered a natural and human reaction to loss (Klass, Silverman & Nickman, 2014).
The Continuing Bonds theory is a new model of grief that was first proposed in the book ‘Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief (Death Education, Aging and Health Care).’ The book was written by authors and grief experts Phyllis Silverman, Dennis Klass, and Steven Nickman to challenge the old grief models (Klass, Silverman & Nickman, 2014). Their argument, as explained in Continuing Bonds, was designed to give voice to a broadened view of the mourning process. The idea is that grief aims to sever the bonds with the dead to free the survivor to create new relationships. The authors propose an alternative model based on the ongoing ties that the mourner has with the deceased (Klass, Silverman & Nickman, 2014). Their grief model emphasizes cultivating a new friendship with the deceased, as opposed to seeking to "move on from" or "let go of" a loved one. It is a valuable model as it profoundly
MEANING MAKING
because those efforts are "more like rumination than problem- solving." Some researchers also claim that meaning making alleviates depression symptoms and increases adaptation e to loss. Conversely, the inability to attribute sense to death leads some people to enormous long-term suffering. There are different strategies that people could use in meaning making. Of these techniques for meaning making, the categories most commonly used include personal development, family relations, faith, life appreciation, negative effects, impermanence, lifestyle changes, compassion and relief from suffering (Neimeyer, 2015).
The term “meaning making” is commonly used in constructivist counseling, psychology, and psychotherapy methods, particularly in bereavement, where people assign some kind of meaning to an encountered death or loss. Many people usually have to form a new sense of their loss with the experience of a demise. Interventions encouraging meaning making can be helpful to grievers, as specific interventions have proven to improve mental and physical health as well. However, according to other studies, "for some people from difficult backgrounds, efforts after meaning may not be psychologically healthy"
UNDERSTANDING THE MOURNING PROCESS
to the stages. Parkes et al. describe the following four phases of mourning: Phase I: Numbness. This period occurs close to the time of the loss and is experienced by most survivors. The Numbness phase allows the mourner to forget the reality of the loss for at least a short time. Phase II: Yearning. The yearning subject longs for the return of the lost loved one and continues to deny the loss' permanence. Anger plays a significant role. Phase III: Despair and disorganization. The survivor has a hard time working through despair and disorganization in their particular environment. Phase IV: Phase of reorganized behavior. The bereaved person begins to pull his or her life back together (Parkes & Prigerson, 2013). As with stages, the different phases overlap, and they are rarely distinct. something to go through, while the tasks approach will give the mourner a sense of control and hope that there is something he or she can consciously do to respond to a loved one's death (Worden, 2018). The role of the funeral director is to support the mourners as they approach these tasks, without being unnecessarily overbearing and controlling.
In this course, the term mourning has been used to indicate the process that occurs after a loss by which a bereaved person comes to terms with the loss. Grief, on the other hand, refers to a person’s reaction to bereavement comprised of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors experienced after the loss that changes over time. Because mourning is a process, various scholars have interpreted it in different ways — primarily as phases, tasks, and stages. Stages. One way of looking at the process of grieving is to interpret it in stages. Many authors who write about grief have listed up to nine stages of mourning, and at least one author has listed 12. One of the disadvantages of using the stage model is that people do not similarly follow stages. Often, the beginner tends to take the stages too literally. Phases. Psychologists Parkes, Bowlby, Sanders, and others who have proposed the concept of phases as an alternative approach Tasks of Mourning Whereas phases suggest a certain passivity, something that the mourner must pass through, the concept of tasks, on the other hand, is far more in line with Freud's theory of grief work and suggests that the mourner must act and can do something. This approach also means mourning may be affected by outside intervention. In other words, the mourner will see the phases as
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