Dual Process Model Of Coping With Bereavement

Death is a universally experienced phenomenon. In the United States alone, over 2.6 million people die each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). For practitioners, it is of utmost importance to better understand the process of grief to develop better interventions for bereaved individuals.

The purpose of this journal is to examine the core concept of “Grief and Loss” in a patient that I cared for in a previous clinical. This clinical experience will represent this core concept and identify any discrepancies or inconsistencies that can be modified and incorporated to the nursing process. Consistencies will be researched based on articles, clinical experience, and our textbook. Inconsistencies will be analyzed by using our PICOT research. A summary with explored research will be discussed with options to incorporate into future nursing practice.

According to the authors, Erich Lindemann (1944, 1956) developed a crisis intervention that helps those who are suffering from loss with no clinical diagnosis, but are displaying symptoms of one (cite). Lindemann’s theory brought to light the understanding of how clients respond to loss, which was grief (cite). Lindemann also helped professionals and paraprofessionals recognize that grief was, “normal, temporary, and amenable to alleviation thought short – term intervention techniques” (cite). The authors cited Janosik (1984, p. 11) on grief behaviors that are “normal” 1) preoccupation with the lost one, 2) identification with the lost one, 3) expressions of guilt and hostility, 4) some disorganization in daily routine, and 5) some evidence of somatic complaints

What is interesting to me, and something that I like is that an important part of the DPM is the idea of “oscillation” (basically a fluctuation between beliefs, opinions, and conditions). According to the DPM healthy grieving means delving into a lively process of oscillating between the two stressors coping. For example: the griever may oscillate between dealing with the loss and completely avoiding the loss. Under the DPM this is a healthy part of the grieving process by not only coping with the grief but also seeking solace from it as

A closer look at the mourning process will reveal that such a process contains several steps necessary to complete in order to continue on with a life after a beloved has passed. The tasks of mourning by William Worden are examined for insight on the grieving process and what difficulties might be encountered. The grieving process is complex and requires acknowledgement of its importance for bereaving individuals to successfully heal from his/her loss.

The loss of a loved one is a painful experience followed by a period of grief and mourning. Bereavement is an experience most individuals will endure at least once in their lives. For most people symptoms such as persistent yearning for the deceased, intense emotional pain, preoccupation with the deceased, and overwhelming sense of sadness only last for a period of 12 months or less before the symptoms begin to subside. For approximately 2.4%-4.8% of the population grief symptoms persist for more than 12 months. These symptoms begin to impair their social and/or occupation functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This is a condition known as complicated grief (CG). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5), includes CG in the Appendix entitled ‘conditions for further study’. CG was proposed as an adjustment disorder when the DSM-5 was being written. A multitude of research had been completed to prove this was a maladaptive response to a significant stressor in an individual’s life (Bryant, 2014). Unfortunately, the American Psychiatric Association did not believe there was a sufficient amount of evidence to prove this constituted a formal diagnosis (Bryant, 2014). Nevertheless, this topic remains a prevalent concern in our society. Researchers have started to identify certain risk factors as well as mechanisms that cause CG (Shair, 2005). The intention

It may be family members, friends, or intimate relationship partner. This loss brings out the deepest of human wounds. It may arise shared feelings including sorrow, sadness, fear, hurt, confusion, depression, loneliness, anger, despair, shame and guilty. The psychological process of grieving includes the following; opening to the presence of the loss, dispelling misconceptions about grief, embracing the uniqueness of the pain, exploring the feeling of loss, recognizing that an individual is not crazy, understanding the needs of mourning, nurturing oneself, reaching out to the others, seeking reconciliation and appreciating one’s process of transformation (Corey, G., & Corey, M. S, 2014). I will help the families of the victims in their bereavement by accomplishing the mentioned tasks. First, I will make them understand the reality of loss and will contribute to accept the same. I will tell family members that everyone have to go one day eventually. This is the bitter facts about the life. Thus, I will convince them to accept the reality of the loss. Second, I will work through the pain of grief and help them to express their emotional pain about loss, and at the same time will nurture themselves both physically and emotionally. Third, I will assist them with adjusting to the environment in which deceased is missing. I will help them to learn to develop a new relationship with the

The loss of a loved one is one of the most distressing emotional experiences people face, yet virtually everyone will deal with grief at some point (Howarth, 2009). Elizabeth Kubler-Ross has been credited for developing the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (2014). The key to understanding these stages is not to think that someone must go through all the stages, but rather use them as a guide for the grieving process. According to Zioosk, and Shear, it is important to realize, that while each individual grief process is unique, there is a form of grief that is disabling, interfering with function and quality of life (2009). This paper will focus on how grief and bereavement can affect the human body,

In a study done by Gilliland and Fleming (1998), three groups of spouses, were looked at to see if anticipatory grief and conventional grief were similar. The groups consisted of group one - Palliative Care Group (PCG), spouses of the terminally-ill, a control group (CG) consisting of individuals with healthy spouses to account for the level of grief symptoms associated with stress and loss in a normative sample. The second control group, a chronic care group (CCG) was

Consequently, the death of an individual presents some of the painful experiences of people associated with the deceased. Thus, a feeling of loneliness and vulnerability which is characterized a withdrawal symptom as members struggle to resume their daily activities (Lampman, 1997). Family members will also have a feeling of pain and hurt as they struggle with anxiety and loneliness which often takes time to diminish. Another feeling that the bereaved members go through is panic and anxiety as it makes it difficult to concentrate on daily activities because of constant memories of the dead relative (Lampman, 1997). During the grieving period, the

Abnormal grief is seen most often with anger and guilt. This idea is apparent when the bereaved individual had a highly dependent relationship with the person who died. For this reason, bereavement,

“According to Bowlby (1980), seral post death conditions of bereaved children, such as the need for continuous care from familiar attachment figures, availability of caregivers sensitive to their bereavement needs, and their limited understanding about death, makes them prone to poor observations, expressions and articulations, which may make them miss out on the actual significance of the loss” (Kaberia,2016,182). Consequently, mourning and grief may not be expressible at the right time. It will become something called “grief in waiting” (Kaberia, 2016, 182). Grief in waiting is when an individual suppresses grief until a later time. Therefore, this allows the grief never truly be dealt with and the mourning process cannot be fully completed. Notably, compulsive self-reliance, blame and guilt, desire to die, and persistent anxiety are just a few symptoms that these adults who experienced early parental death go through (Dilworth & Hildreth,1997-1998 cited in Kaberia,2016,182). In addition, “Research has confirmed that early parental loss is associated with outbursts and loneliness (Murphy, 1986-87), depression, suicidal ideation and over- protectiveness, (Zall, 1994) and mental health (Dietrich, 1984 all cited in Kaberia, 2016, 182).

For most people loss is usually associated with death and dying but in fact loss is experienced not only in relation to death, but also via those normative changes we experience throughout our lives. Grief as a response to loss runs through all aspects of both our lives as well as our clients. Though the terms bereavement, grief, and mourning are said to be distinct constructs in their own right, both professionals and the general public often use them interchangeably. While bereavement typically refers to the loss of a loved one, it may also refer to the loss of gainful employment, a bodily function, belongings, or other events usually resulting in a process of grief which may affect our emotional/physical reactions, behavioural responses, and thoughts. Grief then is how we as individuals react to both death and non-death losses and as such is regarded as a normal and natural response to loss and thus is a logical outcome of our drive to form emotional connections to people, objects or possessions. Mourning is then the outward behavioural expression of grief and at the same time the internal struggle to reorient to life which is largely shaped by cultural and social norms, traditions, practices and rituals (Hall, 2011).

Despite the slight difference between the two words, bereavement and grief go together, and in this paper, those terms will be interchanged. There are five stage of grief that I intend to discuss in detail. “Kubler-Ross stage perspective held that dying people go through five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.” (Stroebe, 2017, p. 457). Denial is not believing that it is happening. Anger could be at one’s self, a higher power, or just the situation in general. Bargaining is when one says if their situation goes away, they will change themselves. For example, one might say if their illness is cured, they will never drink alcohol

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross engineered the five-stage grieving model; she based her theory on the feeling terminally ill patients had (Maclejewski et al., 2007). However, this model has been found to be useful in