After the death of my husband, I have watched my children grapple with grief. At times it seems as if they are in a tug-of-war with God. Losing a loved one has always been a part of life and eventually everyone will go through a time when they will have to grapple with grief. The death of a father at any age can be devastating, but when children lose their father at a young age their feelings of security disappear. If children lose their attachment to their father they are left wondering if they can even trust to put that attachment somewhere else due to the fear of losing it again. Children grieve differently than adults. There is no well-defined model for grieving children, but most go through “denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression …show more content…
Kelley (2009) states “an international study of 77 leading bereavement specialists revealed that attachment theory and a psychodynamic model are their preferred conceptual models for understanding the process of grieving”. Unfortunately, the area of attachment to God is still mostly unexplored. John Bowlby first introduced research in “attachment theory” due to observational studies of young children and their attachment to their parents. Kelley (2009) states “Bowlby maintains that attachment behavior is an instinctual and a constitutive dimension of being human and endures throughout the lifespan”. So if attachment behavior can be seen throughout one’s lifetime, how does it affect religious development? Kirkpatrick (1988) suggests that “attachment theory is an important psychological framework for understanding religious experience because a personal relationship with God is at the core of monotheistic religions”. Studies that have been conducted by Kirkpatrick include “a meta-analysis of numerous studies that have considered the correlation between sudden religious conversions and the converts’ history of parental attachments. Across those various studies, rates of conversion were significantly correlated with insecurity of either maternal or paternal attachments” (Kelley,
The purpose of this study is to review literature related to the effects of parental death on children. Children who experience the death of a parent is considered an at risk population for psychological, behavioral, and social problems. There are many factors relating to the way children adjust to parental death. Some of these factors include the age of the child,
Children suffering from the anxieties of loss or bereavement may try to hide their feelings for fear of upsetting those around them, whilst others show their feelings freely.
Although the phenomenon of grief is a normal, healthy response to the death of someone loved, for children it is a traumatic ripping away of everything they have known. As a result, everyday life becomes utter chaos while familiarity and comfort vanish, emotionally propelling the griever into uncharted territory with innumerable questions and fears. When those uncertainties are not dealt with appropriately, grieving children tend to imagine circumstances that may be far worse than reality” (Pond, 2013, p. 113).
Bereavement and loss - The loss of a loved one such as a parent, sibling, grandparent or friend can turn a child’s world upside down. Grief can bring all sorts of emotions, upset, sadness, hurt and anger because they are gone and, fear because the child may be afraid of other loved ones dying too. A child can be affected by grief for a long period of time, and this may impact on their emotional and physical
Someone who is grieving will experience “major psychological, spiritual, social and physiological” changes throughout the grieving process (Hooyman & Kramer, 2006, p37). There are many theories and models that support these words. This essay will discuss Freud’s theory of grief work (Davies, 2004), Bowlby’s attachment theory (Walsh, 2012), and Worden’s tasks of grief (Worden & Winokuer, 2011). The major tasks of grief throughout the four different stages of life will be looked at, as well as common grief reactions, and ways to support people through these. In addition how children, adolescents, adults and the elderly understand and respond to grief will be examined. Finally how people at the various stages of life confront their own death will be looked at, including some personal examples.
D1/D2/A1 For most people bereavement will be the most troubling experience they will ever face. Grief is what we feel when somebody that is close to us has died everyone experiences grief in different way there is no correct way for someone to grief. For many children and young people the death of a parent or sibling is an experience they are faced with early in life. Children and young people need to be given the opportunity to grieve ignoring the child’s grief is not protective and can be damaging. Children and young people regardless of their age need to be encouraged to talk about how they are feeling and supported to understand their emotions. During their development children do not understand that death in irreversible this can be shown as children do not understand the term death
While some children might express their anguish outwardly by crying, others struggle to hold their emotions inside. The children that do not have open expressions of grief are the ones that are more likely to sometimes overeat and have rebellious behavior patterns.
Depending on those life experiences will depend on how attachment behaviour will look. Another critique of Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment theory is they focus on “stressful situations rather than non-stressful situations” (Lee, (n.d.)). Regarding attachment theory, even though every culture has attachment different cultures have different ways of raising their children. Therefore, the patterns of attachment theory will vary depending on the culture the study is done in. Attachment theory looks at blaming the primary caregiver which in most cases is the mother for insecure attachment (Yazdani, 2017), rather than others who are around the child.
A social relationship is defined as an interaction between two or more individuals, groups or organizations. The first relationship ever experienced is the family relationship. According to John Bowlby’s attachment theory, the patterns of attachment from our earliest relationships forms the type of attachments in our future relationships. This theory is meant to describe and explain people’s patterns of relationship from birth to death. It provides not only a framework for understanding emotional reactions in infants, but also a structure for understanding love, loneliness and grief in adults.
Death and dying is a natural and unavoidable process that all living creatures will experience at some point in life, whether it is one’s own person death or the death of a close friend or family member. Along with the experience of death comes the process of grieving which is the dealing and coping with the loss of the loved one. Any living thing can grieve and relate to a loss, even children (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). “Childhood grief and mourning of family and friends may have immediate and long-lasting consequences including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, behavioral disturbances, and school underachievement” (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006, p. 61). American children today grow up in cultures that attempt to avoid grief and
When a loved one dies, children handle their grief differently than adults, but they still often grieve very deeply in their own way. Much of the grief children experience comes from the fact that children often lose friends to a sudden death such as a traffic accident. The loss of older loved ones may be more anticipated, such as
The term ‘attachment’ is used by psychologists who study the child’s early relationships. An attachment is a unique emotional bond normal between a child and an adult. A theorist called John Bowlby (1970-90) had a relation to the attachment theory. In 1950s John identified that when children and
This essay explores several models and theories that discuss the complexities of loss and grief. A discussion of the tasks, reactions and understanding of grief through the different stages from infants to the elderly, will also be attempted.
Loss is a phenomenon that is experienced by all. Death is experienced by family members as a unique and elevated form of loss which is modulated by potent stages of grief. Inevitably, everyone will lose someone with whom they had a personal relationship and emotional connection and thus experience an aftermath that can generally be described as grief. Although bereavement, which is defined as a state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one, is a universal experience it varies widely across gender, age, and circumstance (definitions.net, 2015). Indeed the formalities and phases associated with bereavement have been recounted and theorized in literature for years. These philosophies are quite diverse but
Grieving parents say that their grief is a lifelong process, a long and painful process..."a process in which [they] try to take and keep some meaning from the loss and life without the [child]" (Arnold and Gemma 1983, 57). After a child's death, parents embark on a long, sad journey that can be very frightening and extremely lonely- a journey that never really ends. The hope and desire that healing will come eventually is an intense and persistent one for grieving parents.