Theories of grief

Question 1

Freud

Answer 1

• loss of ATTACHMENT to a parent that a child experiences through development is more emphasized rather than the loss experienced following the death of someone significant
• once the attachment is severed, the child would be free & uninhibited (unrestrained), and the mourning process would be considered complete

Question 2

Bowlby

Answer 2

-Similar to Freud’s theory, but it was based on a study on children who were deprived of their mothers under traumatic circumstances

Question 3

KÜbler-Ross

Answer 3

• Identifies shock & belief, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance as “stages of grieving”
• It’s important to note that NOT EVRYONE will go through the stages sequentially

Question 4

Parkes

Answer 4

• healthy grieving includes changing ones worldview & the way that one has dealt with life previously
• the widows in his research continued their relationship with their deceased husband
• this was secretly done out of concern that they would be judged as crazy

Question 5

Klass, Silverman, and Nickman

Answer 5

• continuing bonds
• maintaining an inner representation of the deceased is normal rather than abnormal
• ways to continue bonds:
  - having 2-way inner conversations with the deceased
  - having 1-way conversations with the deceased
  - feeling visited
  - dreaming of and remembering the deceased
  - keeping cherished objects