Question

3. Explain the types of responses to grief.

4. List and explain the loss and grief patterns of Engel's, KublerRoss, Parkes's, and Demi's.

Answer 1

3. Types of responses to Grief :

Grief is an emotional response to loss or death of loved one. It is a pain of mind arising from significant personal loss , misfortune etc. The major types of Grief responses are:

* Normal Grief response:

A varied group of physical and emotional symptoms occurs in normal grief response such as crying, sadness, anger, longing, despair, withdrawal from others, loss of appetite , sleep , motivation and interest, disability, confusion etc.

After passing through the various stages or symptoms, the person move towards acceptance and the symptoms may reduce gradually and they start to engage in daily activities in a normal way.

* Anticioatory Grief :

It is an emotional reaction to an expected death or loss . Example: someone very close to you is diagnosed with a deadly disease or met an accident that may cause his death soon. Helplessness, loss of control, anger , sadness etc are the main responses in this type of Grief.

* Complicated grief:

A complicated grief is a Long lasting, debliating grief that creates an impairment in the person's ability to engage in daily activities . Delayed grief, chronic grief, distorted grief that may associated with mental disorders, are all coming under complicated grief.  

4. Theories of Grief:

a) George Engel's theory( 1964): According to him , there are mainly Five stages

Shock and disbelief: Initially the person refuses to acknowledge the reality of loss and he may have a numb feeling . This stunned feeling is a way to prevent Overwhelming stress.  

Awareness development: Emotional reactions to loss like crying, frustration, despair etc. may manifest in this stage. Angry feelings may develops aginst God and others due to the loss.

Restitution : Recovery process begins with participation of rituals like funeral, religious prayers and family gatherings for the deceased. The person start to accept the reality of loss.

Resolution : The preoccupations with the loss, the images of the lost person or objects. Preoccupations decreases with a year.

Recovery : Individual is able to lead a normal life without getting disturbed by the loss and grief.

b) Kubler Ross

Elisabeth Kubler Ross , A Swiss American psychiatrist , proposed a model of Grief in 1969. This Model grief is widely accepted as DABDA model of Grief. According to this model Grief/ patient response to terminal illness is having five stages:

Denial: it may be hard to believe that we lost a person, whom we love .Denial attempt to slow the process of accepting that the person is died or thinking the news will be false news.

Anger: Extreme emotional discomfort may manifest as anger. The person may respond to the Doctors or others in angry feeling as others are responsible for the loss. The person may get angry towards God too.

Bargaining: Person may be willing to do almost anything to alleviate the pain and he may bargain with God or to Doctors with many promises to keep him or his loved one from dying.

Depression : In this stage the person slowly start to look into the reality and feel the loss more abundantly . Sadness grows , the person may withdraw from social interactions .

Acceptance : It is the last stage of grief. It doesn't mean the person's pain is fully resolved but the person acccepted the reality and lives in the reality.  

c) Parkes's: Collin Murray Parkes' Four phases of Grief , based on Jown Bowlby's attachment theory.

Shock and numbness

yearning and searching

Disorganization abnd despair

Reorganisation and recovery.

d) Demi's ( see the comment session . Time limit matters . Thank you).