Mourning and Grief

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

Sigmund Freud was an influential psychoanalyst in the late 18th century to the early 19th century. He made many advances in the field of psychology which have impacted other academic areas such as sociology and social work. In his 1915 paper “Mourning and Melancholia” he connected the normal realm with the pathological. In which he “compared mourning – a normal if painful event from which hardly anyone is spared – with a pathological although very common one: melancholia” (Fiorini et al. 2007). The natural human process is to mourn the loved subject or object when it is lost. Freud explains that grief is the feeling of losing love and once it is fully lost desolation and fear takes its place

Personal relationships as well as other environmental factors have a major impact on the chances a person has of developing depression and being a major cause of the unfortunate disorder. In 1917 , Sigmund Freud proposed an approach to depression stating that depression was based on mourning (Desmet). A person, according to Freud, has positive as well as negative feelings towards people they love. When they become separated from the person they love by either death or separation, the feelings of negativity they felt for the person they loved turn to themselves. After the mourning period has ended, the person should return to their normal state. Some, however, fail to reach the end of the mourning period and experience a state of melancholy for months or even years. Major life changing events can occur at any age and have different effects on individuals. How someone deals with pain or heartbreak is their decision, but failing to overcome the obstacles and struggles leads to depression. The environment a person lives in and the environment they were raised it has an enormous impact on how stress will affect

Later, Prigerson et al. (1999) researched disordered grief and found a number of differences as related to anxiety and depression. Both Horowitz and Prigerson’s studies found similarities in that participants had prolonged longing for the deceased, extreme impairing thoughts about the deceased, extreme denial of the death and avoidance ( Boelen & Prigerson, 2007).

Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control (Guerin 127). One of Freud’s most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires,

Sigmund Freud is known as the father of psychoanalysis, along with a psychologist, physiologist, and medical doctor. Freud worked with Joseph Breuer to develop the theory of how the mind is a complex energy system.Throughout Freud’s life he

It is inevitable not to experience grief, but grief does not stop life. It changes you and teaches how to hold yourself in place. When I was flying to Pakistan, I knew my grandfather was on his death bed and I knew I had to say my goodbye, but I was in denial and scared. When I reached Pakistan, first thing was I went to the hospital and saw him. He was breathing! It gave me a comfort feeling and I talked to him even if he was in a coma, but I believed he was listening. As I sat next him, I saw my dad in the distance talking to someone and telling them, “I found a spot in the graveyard and all arrangements are made”. Instantly, I thought if I feel so much pain see my grandfather like this, then my dad must feel ten times more pain. He was being so strong and fine. I knew that I had to represent my dad and be the strong one too. I had to let go and support my family. Humans experience many different emotions in their life and they learn how to manage them according to situation. This tragic event made me experience many thing, as one of them was emotion management and use symbolic interactionism I will analyze how I managed my emotions and roles, in addition how I benefited from sociological imagination.

Given the emotional bond most of us share with our animals, it’s only natural to feel devastated and filled with grief along with sadness after losing them. When a person you love passes away, for instance, it’s common for family and friends to console you and provide comfort. Unfortunately, although the emotional aspect is generally understood, society often forgets how tremendously complex grief and loss can be. Believe it or not, some people still don’t understand how central animals can be in people’s lives, and a few may not get why you’re grieving over “just a pet.”

In this essay I will outline the main theoretical models relating to loss and grief.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is responsible for developing the Psychoanalytic Theoretical Perspective; Freud argued that our early life experiences are essentially the base to our subconscious mind and in turn heavily influence our current behavior. Freud believed that people could be treated and healed by articulating their dreams and childhood memories allowing an individual to gain insight into these unconscious thoughts and ultimately motivate them to resolve the repressed conflicts within. This technique was developed into a therapy used today known as Psychoanalysis, similar to hypnosis, it was founded in 1896 (“Freud's Psychoanalytic Theories.”). Just like any other psychological theory, there are many interesting concepts to Freud's Psychoanalytic Theoretical Perspective. The theory says that your personality is determined by the manner in which your behaviors have been depicted to the unconscious mind, this theory tells us that our behavior is completely

Sigmund Freud explored many new concepts in the human mind during his lifetime. He was the scholar who discovered an immense new realm of the mind, the unconscious. He was the philosopher who identified childhood experience, not racial destiny or family fate, as the vessel of character, and he is the therapist who invented a specific form of treatment for mentally ill people, psychoanalysis. This advanced the revolutionary notion that actual diagnosable diseases can be cured by a technology that dates to the dawn of humanity: speaking. Sigmund Freud, writing more than 320 books, articles and essays on psychotherapy in his lifetime, forever changed how society viewed mental illness and the meaning of their dreams. However, controversy over

Undoubtedly Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. He was an influential thinker of the early twentieth century who elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system and the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology. Freud articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression and he proposed tripartite account of the mind ‘s structure, all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions. Freudian approach can be

“A trailblazer of modern-day psychology,” Sigmund Freud presented new ways of thinking about human nature, pioneered new techniques of understanding human behavior, and created the most comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy ever developed (Himmat, 1997).

In 1896 Sigmund Freud (1865-1939) founded the psychoanalytic approach. Freud encountered patients suffering from a disease without apparent cause. He was the first to propose that psychological factors were responsible. Freud’s approach focuses on the unconscious mind with conflict. Freud published his psychoanalytic theory of personality in 1900, and also developed a form of psychotherapy called psychoanalysis (Gross, 2015, p2).

This paper investigates the pioneer work of Dr. Sigmund Freud and its influences on the development of Psychology. It assumes that without the innovative work of Freud the domain of psychology would not have reached its level of knowledge in this present-day.