175 Mental Health Concerns and The Older Adult
Table 5. Five Stages of Grief: Denial Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance Stage Characteristics Depression This is a DSM-5 clinical diagnosis as well as a Kubler-Ross and Kessler stage. It will be talked about with DSM-5 criteria later. Clinic depression can lead to worsening mental health if left untreated: ● Feelings of nothing and emptiness take over. ● A normal response to major loss. ● Can feel heavy (like hitting the bottom) and lonely. ● A natural way to protect the body’s nervous system from overload by slowing it down or turning it off for processing. ● A way toward healing. ● Seeking a way out of depression can feel like being lost in a storm with no seeable way to escape (loss of hope). ● Shift the view of depression from unwanted to invited (like a guest). ● Allow the encounter with it even though it feels hard. ● Use the opportunity to explore and renew self. ● Society often seeks to rid someone of depression as quickly as possible. ● Depression intervention can be necessary, but time can also heal if allowed an acceptable space. ● Treating depression is seeking equilibrium. ● View and feel sadness as an appropriate part of grief (balanced with quality of life and meeting needs). “Depression makes us rebuild ourselves from the ground up because it takes us to a deeper place in our soul that we normally would explore.” (Kübler-Ross & Kessler, 2005, p. 24) Acceptance ● Is not the notion of being all right or fine with what has happened (is about acknowledging all that has been lost and learning to that loss). ● Healing looks like remembering–recollecting–reorganizing (RRR). ● Not in a linear sequence; goal is not to arrive at acceptance (it is not
a destination) rather, is a journey of healing to take, not a point. ● Past cannot be altered; has been forever changed; therefore, readjust. ● Slowly withdraw energy from the loss and begin to invest it in life. ● Put loss into perspective. ● What is lost cannot be replaced, but new connections, relationships, and interdependencies can be made. ● Living begins again (but only if grief is given its time).
Note : From Kübler-Ross & Kessler (2005, pp. 7–28)
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