388: Week 3 - Grief and Loss

Question 1

What are the 2 different types of grief?

Answer 1

1. Anticipatory

2. Normal

Question 2

What characterizes “Anticipatory Grief”?

Answer 2

Advanced warning of a situation that is likely to induce grief (knowing that someone is likely to die)

Question 3

What characterizes “Normal Grief”?

Answer 3

-exhibiting physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual symptoms of grief

Question 4

What “Physical” symptoms are associated w/ grief?

Answer 4

• Chest pain/tightness
• Tightness in the throat
• Shaking
• Exhaustion/lack of energy
• Appetite disturbances
• Sleep disturbances
• Dry mouth
• Oversensitivity to noise

Question 5

What are the “Emotional” symptoms associated w/ grief?

Answer 5

• Fear (world will spin out of control)
• Crying
• Emotional numbness
• Anger
• Depression
• Guilt
• Not wanting to live (inability to live with the loss, or without what was lost)

Question 6

What “Psychological” symptoms are associated w/ grief?

Answer 6

• Thought that one is “losing their mind”
• Hallucinations/dreams of loved one
• Troubles concentrating
• Troubles/Inability to make decisions

Question 7

What are the “Spiritual” symptoms associated w/ grief?

Answer 7

-Why is this happening to me?
-What is the meaning of life?
-Where is God in all of this?
-What happens when we die?
-How does the world go on after ____ has died?
These are all related to EXISTENTIALISM!

Question 8

Describe some of the behaviors expressed by individuals who are grieving?

Answer 8

• searching/calling out for the individual who has passed
• sighing
• restless overactivity
• Visiting places or carrying objects that remind them of the person who passed OR completely avoiding any place, person or thing that reminds them of the individual who passed
• treasuring objects that belonged to the deceased (keeping their room in tact)
• Absent-minded behaviors

Question 9

What are the 8 types of unresolved grief? Describe each.

Answer 9

1. Absent grief -> no grief is exhibited (common w/ socially negated losses)
2. Inhibited grief -> grief expressed in limited manner, somatic symptoms may present later than expected)
3. Delayed grief -> grief is delayed in its expression (may be the result of pressing responsibilities prevention one from having the chance to express grief)
4. Conflicted grief -> exaggeration of some symptoms/suppression of others (may occur when ind who passed was abusive or neglectful)
5. Chronic grief -> symptoms are present for much longer than what is considered to be normal
6. Unanticipated grief -> copings and adaptations are compromised when loss comes out of the blue or is spontaneous
7. Ambiguous loss -> individual is physically absent but psychologically present (quadriplegic); OR they are physically present, but psychologically absent (dementia, coma)
8. Abbreviated grief -> short-lived form of normal grief; often a result of an “insufficient attachment” to the deceased

Question 10

What differences exist between men, women and children with regards to the responses to grief?

Answer 10

Women -> EXPRESS
Men -> WORK (often do not express, aside from expressing anger)
Children -> deal with it in small increments (they may cry for a bit, then go play for a bit); may feel as though they caused the death (ego-centric); may enter into a depressive state that results in rebellion

Question 11

What are the 4 “Tasks of Mourning”?

Answer 11

1. Accept reality of loss
2. Work through pain of grief
3. Adjust to environment where deceased is missing
4. Emotionally relocate the deceased and move on with life

Question 12

What are some interventions to aid those who are grieving?

Answer 12

• Review our own values, beliefs and assumptions (do our own existential work)
• make recommendations for self-care
• avoid platitides
• be present and listen
• provide touch when appropriate
• aid in Reality Testing