Grief and Loss
Introduction
When you lose your loved it amounts to one of the distressing experiences and it is also commonly an experience that individuals undergo. The majority of individuals that experience normal grief and bereavement exhibit a period of numbness, sorrow, and even anger and guilt. The feelings gradually ease, and there is a possibility of accepting the loss and move forward. For some individuals, loss feeling are found to be debilitating and do not enhance even following the passage of time. This experience is referred to as complicated grief, which is also sometimes known as persistent complex bereavement disorder. This disorder is characterized by painful emotions that are long lasting and very severe that an individual experiences trouble recovering from the loss and resuming a normal life. Different individuals exhibit distinct paths through the experience of grief. The differences are normal experiences, although in the case you have challenges moving through the stages especially over a year following the death of a loved one, you are likely to have complicated grief. this will call for treatment efforts to help bring you in to terms with the loss experienced and reclaim a sense of peace and acceptance. This paper explores the concept of complicated grief by looking at its definition, how it is experienced, the cultural, gender, societal or diversity influences when it comes to complicated grief. It also discusses the role of a social worker when dealing with a client experiencing complicated grief and the knowledge required for developing an intervention model for the disorder.
Define complicated grief( intensively)
Complicated grief is likely to appear in the form of a full absence of mourning and grief, which is a continuing inability is experiencing reactions of normal grief, conflicted grief, delayed grief or in the event of a chronic grief. The factors leading to the chance that one is likely to undergo complicated grief may be such as the gender of the individual experiencing the loss, suddenness of the death, and the relationship of the mourning persons to the deceased individuals such as extremely close, an intense or very contradictory relationship. Reactions to grief that turn into primary depression need to be treated with psychological therapy and the use of drugs. An individual avoiding any form of reminders of the deceased person, who is often scared and panics easily when remined about the deceased individual as well as one who regularly think or dream about the deceased individual are likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. There are situations when an individual may turn to substance abuse in an effort to avoid the painful experiences concerning the los as well as the symptoms including lack of sleep.
Different individuals exhibit distinct paths through the experience of grief. The timing and order of the stages may be different from one individual to another and they include accepting the reality that a loss occurred, adjusting yourself to new reality by accepting that the deceased does not exist any longer, giving yourself an opportunity to encounter the pain as a result of the loss and also having different relationships. The differences are normal experiences, although in the case you have challenges moving through the stages especially over a year following the death of a loved one, you are likely to have complicated grief.
There are certain symptoms that will describe the presence of complicated grief in an individual. at the time of the initial few months following a loss, the majority of the symptoms and sings of a normal grief are similar to those exhibited in a complicated grief. Nevertheless, whereas normal grief signs and symptoms undergo gradual fading over time, the symptom of complicated grief are found to get worse of linger. The disordered can be likened to being in a constant and heightened state of mourning that will keep an individual from healing the loss experience. The various symptoms of signs of complicated grief include the following:
Complicated grief symptoms include intense pain, sorrow, and rumination due to the loss experienced of your deceased loved one. An individual will in most cases focus on the death of their loved one and also exhibiting extreme focus on reminders of the passing on of their loved one. An individual may experience excessive avoidance of the reminders of the loss. A person undergoing complicated grief exhibits persistent and intense pining or longing for the deceased alongside issues accepting the loss, bitterness, numbness or detachment, and also lac of trust in other people. Complicated grief may be characterized by inability to think back on positive encounters with the deceased or inability to enjoy life and also feeling that life is meaningless and holds no purpose. There are also other indicators of complicated grief disorder including having trouble to perform typical duties, isolating from other people ad withdrawing from any form of social activities. People may also experience deep sadness, depression, self-blame or guilt and also wish that you died alongside the loved done.
How normally is complicated grief experienced?
Complicate grief disorder keeps the people suffering from the loss trapped in their sense of loss and pain following the passing on of an individual they love. The experience is a normal experience in human beings, although it needs to be transitory and when the condition becomes debilitating and chronic individuals experiencing grief may require treatment of mental health treatment. The worse feelings of complicated grief can potentially be resolved with the help of professional assistance and the disabling symptoms can be overcome. When a person loses their loved one, it constitutes a traumatic event, although over time acceptance and healing are anticipated to happen, and when they do not occur, it involves a sign of trouble that should taken into consideration.
Individuals suffering from complicated grief disorder find it challenging to escape feeling alone, lost and devastated. Complicated grief becomes part of the regular companion, and this requires the assistance of an expert from professionals of mental health who have an understanding of the difference between dysfunctional and healthy bereavement. A complicated grief is experienced with an obsession with the deceased, which can be expressed through behavior and speech. It may also be experienced through unbearable, and deep sadness that never appears to lift and undergoing sleeping issues. they experience lack of attention to personal and grooming appearance as well as pessimistic expressions of gloom, doom and despair concerning life in general. People experience withdrawal effects from social activities and interactions and distracted performance while at the job or the inability of engaging with other people.
Are there cultural, gender, societal or diversity influences when it comes to complicated grief?
Cultural and societal influences
Every culture is described as having their individual set of beliefs describing the working of the world and the roles of people in the world. in the societies that have individuals sharing common religion, the religious beliefs considerably are found to shape the culture. Several cultures expresses their own beliefs concerning the purpose and meaning of life and what occurs following the death of a person. This serves informing how individuals in such cultures approach the event of death. For instance, individuals may find death event as more bearable when they believe in life after one die. In other cultures, individuals hold the believe that a person’s spirit who has passed o has direct influence on the living members of the family. The members of a family are normally comforted by the belief that those who passed on watch over them. Generally, beliefs concerning the meaning of death plays a key role in helping individuals make sense of the event as well as cope with mystery of death.
The social organization of the practices of bereavement and also the social reaction towards dying and death has transformed while responding to demographic and epidemiological transitions. The changes patterns of age specific mortality and death causes that accompanied urbanization, industrialization ad economic development transformed the relationship between the social structures and death. Death in the earlier societies reflected a severe loss t the identity and continuity of a community, the practice of mourning and bereavement were highly ritualized. The funeral ceremonies of a deceased lasted for months while in other cases it went for years. Further, the entire community would take part in the occasions of funeral ceremonies. The mourning in a given community or society serves in reinforcing and reaffirming the common bonds, group sentiments and the social solidarity that the death threatens.
Regardless of the standard of death event in the Western nation , particularly in the United States remain very personal and variable. The institutionalized conventions and norms governing the practices are less readily apparent when individuals are found to live in significantly large and heterogenous communities where they live in relative isolation from the extended family structure when compared to the case of homogenous communities of individuals sharing similar religious and ethnic beliefs. The bereaved individual may not be sure concerning the time or the extend of grieving as the grief is not any longer a common and ritualized practice by the community. In the United States, the process of mourning is usually private and short. Nevertheless, this perception has the effect of causing challenges to adjust as the ambiguity concerning the stages of and appropriate behavior to mourning and grieving. The absence of social prescription regarding bereavement and mourning may led to severe recovery and adjustment problems for the recently bereaved persons.
Even though there multiple distinct religious and cultural prescriptions for mourning in numerus countries including the US, the social institutions in the modern world tend to express more uniformity concerning the view they embody. The institution include funeral homes, the law, work place, and the medical care system usually place very explicit constraints n the bereavement and mourning behaviors of a person. Laws that govern disposal of bodies of the death are designed to provide that the community is protected for their health, although the legislation of public health may be differ with certain religious beliefs concerning when and how the bodies need to be disposed of. Generally, social institutions and prescriptions determine the extent to which the practice of bereavement and mourning lasts. It also dictates how people cope with the death of their loved ones as well as the healing process. Some of the practices lead to prolonged period of mourning and bereavement.
Gender
Bereavement is often likely to result in stress without regard to gender. In most cases, the majority of studies focus on women for the grieving studies, although men also grieve. Both men and women are found to experience similar emotions during their grieve, male gender have been merely reinforced and socialized to express their emotions in a different way. men are often required to grieve internally, while it is very acceptable for the female gender to express their grieve outwardly, particularly in the American culture. Men usually undergo constructed range of expression in grieving experience. The difference in the expressions demonstrated during grieve can be explained by the reinforcement of the concept that men are required by the culture and society to be stoic and independent whereas women rely on relationships and more codependent. In general, gender aspects in bereavement and mourning usually have similar impact between men and women, although men express their grief internally, while women express their grief outwardly.
What is the social worker’s role when dealing with a client who has complicated grief?
Social workers play the role of helping families, individuals and groups of individuals to cope with issues that they face to enhance the live of the patients. The social workers in the case of complicated grief work in liaison with different institutions to help the patients and also collaborate with different professionals of healthcare to guarantee the wellness of the patient. They usually become familiar with the grieving individual and refer them to the community resources. They keep the history of the patients and prepare reports for the treatment process.
What knowledge is needed to design appropriate, culturally sensitive interventions in working with someone who has complicated grief.?
The intervention plan for complicated grief involves various aspects such as the symptoms that the patient is experiencing, crucial personal information, any medical information as well as all the medications, herbs, vitamins or other supplements that the patients may be taking alongside the dosages for these substances. The intervention model needs to also consider the cultural prescriptions about death and mourning process to ensure an effective treatment plan. Taking into consideration the beliefs and religious of a patient and the community of the patient is helpful in developing a practical intervention plan.
Conclusion
Complicated grief is a common event among people which is expressed through mourning. Different cultures dictate the degree of bereavement and mourning period based on the beliefs that they hold. Besides, the community or societal practices impact the grieving period and practice based on the prescriptions. Further, gender ahs been discussed as factor to consider in complicated grief, although the extent of grief has no difference in both genders. The male gender usually express their grief internally according to the expectations of society, whereas women express their grief externally. When an individual experience the challenges of accepting and recovering from death of their loved one, a social worker may help in making patient undergo the healing process. The intervention plan needs to consider the patients’ history and the cultural setting of the individual to develop an effective plan.
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