The Bereavement Journey

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

The Two-Track Model of Bereavement is a model that states loss is conceptualized along two axes. Track I pertains to the biopsychosocial functioning in the event of a loss and Track II pertains to the bereaved’s continued emotional attachment and relationship to whoever is deceased. The effect of Track I is seen through the bereaved’s functioning, including their anxiety, their self-esteem and self-worth, and their depressive affect and cognitions. Noting the ability of one to invest in life tasks after experiencing a loss indicates how they are responding to the loss of the deceased. This Track is seen as an expression similar to one of trauma, or crisis. Track II holds that the bereaved has difficulty physically separating from the deceased. This can be seen in emotional, interpersonal, or cognitive ways. It is shown through imagery and memories that the bereaved experiences surrounding the deceased, whether positive or negative, as well as the emotional distance from them. These pictures in the bereaved’s head explain both the cognitive and emotional view of the person who has died (Rubin, 1999).

The life transition of death and dying is inevitably one with which we will all be faced; we will all experience the death of people we hold close throughout our lifetime. This paper will explore the different processes of grief including the bereavement, mourning, and sorrow individuals go through after losing someone to death. Bereavement is a period of adaptation following a life changing loss. This period encompasses mourning, which includes behaviors and rituals following a death, and the wide range of emotions that go with it. Sorrow is the state of ongoing sadness not overcome in the grieving process; though not pathological, persistent

The third step is disorientation and disorganization. The appetite is poor, people lack motivation, have impaired judgment and experience insomnia. As the bereaved struggle to be relieved of disorientation there is a search to find the answer that feels right to them. A listening ear is the greatest gift to the bereaved. Society expects mourners to be healed quickly and support is often lacking after a short time. Others tend to avoid talking about the person who has died, when that is the thing that helps the bereaved most. During disorientation the self-image is lowered and the mourner often isolates himself from others.

The bereaved person will always be encouraged within a supportive, caring and trusting atmosphere, to be themselves, to be able to express themselves and to talk about what they want to talk about and feel they need to talk about, in that they are to be listened to carefully and with compassion, that they are never going to be judged, and that there is patience, understanding and encouragement that is healthy and positive for them.

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. After tragedy strikes, it is difficult for many to make it past the first step. When an individual suffers incomprehensible trauma, it is easier to pretend that it did not happen or to ignore those feelings and opt instead for numbness. However when an entire society is affected by a larger threat or attack such as a presidential assassination or a school shooting, people can find solace in creating a story that bypasses the complexity of the emotions they are experiencing; whether that story has any merit or is completely fabricated. Tragedy causes desperate finger pointing and the spread of conspiracies like Alex Jones’ theory that the Sandy Hook shooting

Unless you are the specific person who is grieving, having lost the loved one yourself, then you do not know how they are feeling. Everyone feels differently about loss, and everyone reacts in a different manner. While someone may be able to empathize with the grief, it is no one's grief but the person who lost the loved one.

Some people may act like nothing has happened and that they are fine and behind closed doors they may be very depressed and upset. Others may show people how they are feeling and be mourning. Some people may isolate the ones closest to them because they remind them of the person that has passed away. It depends on each person and how each person acts. There is no way that you can prepare to lose someone. When you or someone you know loses someone you just have to be there for them to help pick them back up and remind them of all the great times that they had the opportunity of having with that

It is common in our grief journeys to experience the many highs and lows that losing our beloved companion can bring us. This rollercoaster of emotions can exhaust us, overwhelm us and become too painful at times. We become stuck or ambivalent in our grief because of how unsettling these emotions can make us feel. However, many still want to be heard and supported. Many attempt to reach out in one way or another; getting contact information for a therapist or RSVPing to a support group, all of which to find themselves never calling or attending. As a result we feel guilt or remorse for not following though and the cycle repeats.

Bereavement and mourning are both part of the grieving process of managing emotions, actions, and personal expression while coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. Every loss is different; and seldom does the grieving process go in a straight line.

“Grief can't be shared. Everyone carries it alone. His own burden in his own way” (Lindbergh). Grieving the loss of a loved one can be the most emotionally draining time of any human being’s life. Not only is this a time for saying good bye to the ones we hold dear in our hearts, but it is also a time for change, change that is not seen as pleasant or embraced. This change is continuing on in life without the ones we have lost. For the majority, this experience is difficult but most have the support and love of family to make it through, but for others, this can be a lonesome and maybe even an impossible task. This experience will affect a person both emotionally and physically, but it is important to learn how to cope with the pain,

Fall 2017, I decided to participate in a bereavement course. I did not know what to expect as this was a class outside of my scope. As the class progressed, I became more and more interested in the materials the professor had to offer. Bereavement was more than what I once thought it consisted of, and Professor Windsor was very knowledgeable about the process. The intent of this paper is to highlight what was going on inside of me throughout this course.

There is rarely anything in life more difficult than adjusting to death. When death occurs, the people that have to witness it, are often depressed trying to cope with the loss for a love one. During the time of loss, people are often in denial about the events and often tend not to respond to the emotions that they are

Death is one of the essential aspects of human existence (Glaser and Strauss 1965). Palliative care now has its expanded application beyond care of people with malignancies to people with non-malignant life limiting illnesses. Death and dying and its multi-faceted impacts on the patients and families generate grief and loss. Grief is described as one of the most universal human reactions occurring across all age groups and cultures as an adaptational response to different kinds of acute life crises or series of crises (Crowles and Rodges, 1991; Curry and Stone, 1992). Grief experienced by bereaved families is defined to be more than a reaction to the loss (Kaunonen, 2000).

When experiencing bereavement, it can be seen as one trying to adjust to the loss of a loved one (Cooley, 1992). The length of the bereavement period often depends on several factors such as the age at the time of loss, the