Young Adults, Parental Bereavement and Mindfulness

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

Grief is defined as a type of emotional or mental suffering from a loss, sorrow, or regret (Dictionary.com, LLC, 2010). Grief affects people of all ages, races, and sexes around the world. Approximately, 36% of the world’s population does or has suffered from grief and only a mere 10% of these people will seek out help (Theravive, 2009). Once a person is suffering from grief it is important to receive treatment. All too often, people ignore grief resulting in deep depression, substance abuse, and other disorders (Theravive, 2009). Grief counseling is very common and can be very helpful to a person in need of assistance. Grief counseling provides the support, understanding, and

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.

Each year thousands of teenagers experience the death of someone they love. When a parent, sibling, friend, or relative dies, teens feel the overwhelming loss of someone who helped shape their -fragile self-identities. Caring adults, whether parents, teachers, counselors or friends, can help teens during this time. If adults are open, honest and loving, experiencing the loss of someone loved can be a chance for young people to learn about both the joy and pain that comes from caring deeply for others. There are many common reactions to trauma, grief, and bereavement among teens. First of all, shock and denial. Feeling numb, stunned and dazed are healthy and normal reactions. Often, it is difficult to “take in” information. The grieved may

Research Report: Review of the Literature on Anticipated vs. Unanticipated Grief and their Corresponding Coping Skills

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.

After interviewing the social workers Hope and Hodge (2006) found that they had observed similar patterns regarding the factors that affect the adjustment of children who lost a parent to death. Boys tend to show externalizing behaviors whereas girls tend to show internalizing behaviors due to the lost of a parent. They found that the cognitive level rather than the age of the child affects their adjustment more. Therefore younger children and preadolescents seem to have more difficulty adjusting to the death of a parent than adolescents. The results did not support earlier findings that sudden death present more difficulty adjusting than expected death. Most of the participants reported that sudden and expected death is equally traumatic to children. The participants also said that the adjustment of the caretaker is important for a positive adjustment for the children. The caretaker must be able to grieve while supporting the child’s need to grieve. This study shows that children of different ages and genders react different to the death of a parent.

Sadly, teens in high school are more likely to suffer from loss than most think.” In a study of 11- to 16-year-olds, 78% reported that at least one of their close relatives or friends had died”. (Harrison and Harrington, 2001). Being at such a young and influential age, adolescents are likely to have negative reactions to the loss of a loved one. Coping methods in response to loss vary from person to person based on relationship to the deceased, personality, and other factors.

Hayslip, Pruett, and Caballero (2015) construe the grief responses of young adults who have lost parents, and suggest that young adults were burdened more so than middle-aged adults. The authors propose that many young adults lack the support system that is so fundamental in coping with loss, making their grieving process more problematic. Instinctive coping responses in young adults when grieving, specifically the loss of a parent, include anger, insomnia, losing interest in endeavours, and trouble working with others. A study within this article found young adults feel more animosity towards the deceased, and more shock.

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

Grief is the act following the loss of a loved one. While grief and bereavement are normal occurrences, the grief process is a social construct of how someone should behave. The acceptable ways that people grieve change because of this construct. For a time it was not acceptable to grieve; today, however, it is seen as a necessary way to move on from death (Scheid, 2011).The grief process has been described as a multistage event, with each stage lasting for a suggested amount of time to be considered “normal” and reach resolution. The beginning stage of grief is the immediate shock, disbelief, and denial lasting from hours to weeks (Wambach, 1985). The middle stage is the acute mourning phase that can include somatic and emotional turmoil. This stage includes acknowledging the event and processing it on various levels, both mentally and physically. The final stage is a period of

The Dougy Center not only focuses of the child, but they also provide adults with information to help their grieving child through certain events. The center provides information on topics such as: what grief is, talking with children about tragic events, getting through the holidays, how to help a grieving child, fears and Halloween, Children and funerals – should they attend or not, how death impacts education, developmental grief responses, etc. Both the National Alliance for grieving children and the Dougy Center are online sources that provide easy access to information as well as hands on activities and support groups, they both aim to help the grieving child as well as prepare adults for the difficulties they may face while helping their children. Much like the Alliance and the Dougy center, the Healing Center aims to help support grieving children through a difficult time, however they use a different approach. The center provides groups that offer children a safe and supportive environment to work through their

Johnson conducted a qualitative study, which explored the lived human experiences pertaining to teens coping with grief. As mentioned by Johnson little empirical evidence currently exists which exemplifies an exploratory approach. Dissimilar from quantitative a qualitative research highlights and strengthens an individual’s inherent narrative and voice. The teen’s narratives provided a framework in order to discover meaning and understanding, rather than to verify truth or prediction. Consequently, the study highlights teen’s unique conceptualizations pertaining to grief.

Through a Qualitative Research Study on grief and loss, if people are able to identify what stages of grief they are in, and once that realization is made consciously through psychological and spiritual counseling, then sufferers will begin the path to healing. The study focused on African Americans who lost one or more parent. The study excluded people younger than twenty years of age and older than forty years of age.

According to Boelen, Spuij, & Reijntjes (2017), the death of a parent or sibling is one of the most common stressful life events that children can experience during childhood. Death itself is already such a negative factor in someone's life, but the effects it can cause on someone's life is sad. I remember as I a child being so sad, depressed, and anger while dealing with the death of my mother. Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) and Posttraumatic Stress (PTSD) is prevalent in children coping with death and grief. When children are