Post Traumatic Bereavement Analysis

This report gives an in depth explanation as to how positive mental health can be restored through bereavement counselling. The report is divided into five sections. Firstly the purpose of bereavement counselling and what the client can expect to gain from it. It will then go on to explain how talking therapies, another name for counselling, can support a client through their most extreme emotions brought on by death or the loss of something precious to them. The third part explains the different stages of grief as outlined by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross model – ‘The Five Stages of Grief’. I will go on to explain how research findings have proven how counselling can promote positive mental health and finally the conclusion.

A small group of four people were given the task of finding an answerable question regarding veterans and or PTSD. The group as a whole decided to focus on OIF and OEF veterans with PTSD and substance abuse disorders. This paper will cover the processes of coming to the consensus of which veterans would be the focus, as well as how the answerable question was agreed upon. Also to be covered is the evidence used, how it was found, and the rigor and merit of a study regarding the issue of group work with such a population. The answerable question is: How effective is the Seeking Safety counseling model for group treatment at reducing intrusive symptoms of co-occurring post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder

The paper written gives an objective critique and evaluation of the article, “The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences sequence: An Approach to Evidence- Based Practice in Bereavement Counseling. Published in the May 2011 Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care. In the article, the author John Wilson discussed the complexity of grief on an individual basis as it pertains to the clients internal and external perceptions of loss. Furthermore, documenting the difficulties faced by the bereavement counseling profession to aid clients in understanding how their past experiences, beliefs, and the words of others shapes their perception of traumaTtic life events, like death.

Complicated grief (CG) is a mental disorder characterised by intense emotions following the death of a loved one, severely and persistently impacting on daily life, compared to normal cases of bereavement (Solomon & Shear, 2015). Lichtenthal, Cruess and Prigerson’s (2004) review discusses the necessity of acknowledging and defining CG as a separate mental disorder. CG is not considered a mental disorder under the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), but is within the category of ‘Disorders Requiring Further Study’ (Shear, Ghesquiere & Glickman, 2013). In Lichtenthal et al.’s (2004) review, CG is defined, and a distinction is made between normal and ‘complicated’ grief. A justification for the discriminant validity of CG is also made, by differentiating CG from other disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD) and adjustment disorder (AD).

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was recognized as the most prevalent disorder among anxiety disorders (Narrow, et al 2002).In Australia, 7.2 % of Australians had experienced PTSD (McEvoy, et al 2011), therefore, PTSD is a serious problem. This essay will provide details about the diagnostic criteria and the four symptoms of PTSD, which mainly derived from the DSM-5 (America Psychiatric Association 2013), and also analyze three factors that trigger this disorder, which are occupational factor, interpretation of threat and social support.

The effects of grief are abundant and in many categories. They mostly influence people in three ways – physically, psychologically, and spiritually. It affects them greatly and it is hard to hide it. Some people try to deal with it on their own, some talk to a psychologist, and some simply turn to their loved ones. They all deal with it in different ways, but it is agreed that it shows. They may show a variety of different reactions like denial, anger, depression, or even acceptance. Getting over loss takes time. For some, it may take years. For some, maybe just a couple months. The

Compare and contrast the ways the authors made the themes of grief and trauma evident to the audience.

Wittouck, Van Autreve, De Jaegere, Portzky, and Van Heeringen (2011, p. 69) reviewed “preventive interventions” and “treatment interventions “for individuals dealing with “complicated grief”. In order to be part of the analysis, researchers had inclusion criteria. The first is the intervention must be offered to individuals “over 18” dealing with a “death of a loved one” (Wittouck et al., 2011, p. 70). Another standard is the intervention must have two groups with one receiving the intervention and the other being the “control condition” (Wittouck et al., 2011, p. 70). The studies must also have a pretest and posttest (Wittouck et al., 2011).

Generally, self-reported overall (physical and psychological) health following a loss from suicide is worse than following a loss from natural death (de Groot, de Keijser, & Neeleman, 2006). So it is not surprising that survivors of suicide are frequently more depressed than individuals experiencing other forms of bereavement (Latham & Prigerson, 2004). This suggests that the suicide-bereaved individual may be in a higher risk group of mourners who are in need of more targeted postvention (de Groot, de Keijser, & Neeleman, 2006). The outcomes for complicated grief in survivors of suicide has much of the same symptomology as complicated grief in survivors of another type of loss; however, there are more pronounced areas that need to be addressed, such as experiential avoidance and suicidal ideation.

Subsequent experiences during my tours in Afghanistan, and other encounters with loss, firmly cemented my resolve to help ease human suffering. Loss, and so grief of some variation, is an inevitable consequence of human experience. I saw it’s impact regularly when I volunteered at The Colorado Neurological Institute – on the faces of patients struggling to reclaim their lost sense of self and family members burdened with anticipatory mourning. Despite its universal reach, though, the effect of grief on cognition remains relatively unexplored. As a research assistant on this project, I aim to help change that trajectory so grief diagnoses and treatments are better

Grief and loss is a universal human experience. No one experiences it in the exact same way. The more significant the loss the more intense the feelings. Many associate grief with the death of a loved one, which often causes the most intense grief but any loss can cause grief. When people have issues processing grief “normally” than complicated grief and unresolved grief issues may develop. This can become problematic, resulting in a reduced quality of life. The risk factors for experiencing serious symptoms of grief can be connected to the physical and emotional health of the individual. Rather it is due to complicated grief or unresolved grief it is

People are exposed to at least one life-threatening situation during their lives. As people progress through life, there might be death of close ones. Not everyone bounces from these events the same way. Some people seem to recover quickly but then begin to experience unexpected difficulties concentrating or enjoying life the way they used to. Some people can move on with these difficult situations. This article answers the question of resilience in the face of loss or potentially traumatic events. Resilience is more common than people think, and that there are multiple pathways to resilience. People who try to recover grief work. Cognitive behavioral treatments help traumatized individuals understand and manage their anxiety and have been

Imagine losing someone close to you and having no idea how to cope and move on. Even though it takes an extended amount of time to grieve, you need to figure out how to move on and accept before the grieving process becomes worse. In the world, there are 60% of people who experienced grief due to the death of a loved one (“Prevalence and Risk” 8). You wouldn’t think that may be a lot of people, but in reality, it’s about 10 million people in the world suffering from a death of a loved one (“Prevalence and Risk” 8). Having so many people be affected can create problems that can change one's body or mind. Although people can have problems, there are ways to get better. There are many available and effective ways to help move on from grief and

Hall et al conducted a multicenter, double blind, placebo-controlled intervention trial called “Optimizing Treatment for Complicated Grief” to examine the global and domain-specific cognitive function of individuals with complicated grief compared to a separately ascertained control sample (2014). The major participants were recruited through different mediums, including referrals from health care professionals and facilities, non-health care personnel or agencies, print media, and broadcast or internet media. The inclusion criteria were set as following: 1) Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) score of 30 or greater at least 6 months after the death of a loved one; 2) CG confirmed as present and the primary problem on clinical

Although this 5 step process of grief after a loss is accepted worldwide, it is important to note the research study from Yale University in the early 2000s, where researchers studied over 200 people after losing a loved one. The study’s results found that the grief process was just more complex than what 5 stages tends to show (Hammond, 2013). The 5 stage grief process, although reassured some people who could relate to certain phases, unfortunately stigmatised people who couldn’t. In the same fashion as what was stated above in the first few lines of this paper, although it is great to have a script of what happens next, everyone experiences grief differently than others.