Grief Theory

Theorists like Lindemann claim that there are five phases that are normal to go through in grieving: somatic disturbance, preoccupation with the deceased, guilt, hostility or anger, and difficulty with everyday tasks. Kubler-Ross identified the commonly recognized and accepted stages of grief

According to American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the five common stages of grief include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance respectively. However, humans are quite fascinating creatures as we might alter the order in which every stage hits us. Nevertheless, one thing is for certain, in every stage of grief of any kind, we must come to terms and accept the cards that are casted in front of us; and it’s entirely up to us how we choose to play them.

Every sane person will experience grief or bereavement at one stage of their life. Bereavement is defined as a state of intense grief, such as after the loss of a loved one. In this essay we will explore the various causes of bereavement and the effects it can have on an individual’s life.

Julie Axelrod’s article reinstates the five stages of grief that were first proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying (1969), explaining the five phases individuals are said to go through when faced with difficult situations such as the loss of a relative, close friendship, valued possession, etc. The five stages of grief are: 1. Denial and isolation; 2. Anger; 3. Bargaining; 4.

The stages of mourning and grief are universal and are experienced by people from all walks of life. Mourning occurs in response to an individual’s own terminal illness or to the death of a valued being, human or animal. There are five stages of normal grief that were first proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying.”

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss-born psychiatrist who spent two years of her professional career gathering information from terminally ill patients to create the premise for On Death and Dying. “It is not meant to be a textbook on how to manage dying patients, nor is it intended as a complete study of the psychology of dying.” (Kübler-Ross, 1969). This book was written as a call-to-action; to raise awareness of the voice of the dying. Not only is there stigma surrounding the topic, but also numerous misconceptions concerning the emotional journey of the terminally ill. The Kübler-Ross Model creates a framework for those interacting with dying persons, to help caretakers better understand the transitions that are taking place, resulting in higher-quality care. This model is comprised of five stages, which can be experienced in a variety of combinations. Prior to the first stage, the patient must be delivered the news of their illness or the severity of their illness, which usually results in shock. Denial is the first stage noted by Kübler-Ross. Denial and isolation are normal responses to overwhelming emotions and serve as a temporary response until the individual is ready to accept reality. Although this defense mechanism is normative, it is important to note that it isn’t necessarily healthy, and that some never move past this stage. As reality sets in, pain beings to emerge and manifests itself in the next stage: anger. Rationality takes a

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

Elisabeth Kubler Ross was a psychiatrist and revolutionizes how people view death and dying. She would listen to dying patients a give them a public form. She came up with five stages of grief. They stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages are used universally.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, (2014), a Swiss-born American psychiatrist, introduced concept of providing psychological counselling to the dying. In her first book, On Death and Dying (published in 1969), she write about the “five stages of grief”, they are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. based on her studies of the feelings of patients facing terminal illness, and have being generalised to other types of negative life changes and losses, such as divorce, loss of property or job, and offered strategies for treating patients and their families as they negotiate these stages.

As presented by Kubler-Ross, the process of experiencing and dealing with loss can be described step-by-step in five stages. The first stage is denial, which Kubler-Ross interpreted to be synonymous to "disbelief" to the grieving individual. At this stage, the individual is in a state of shock that understanding and making sense of the reality that a loved one is already gone is yet to be fathomed by the individual. At this point, the individual is

Life is a hard thing to go through and eventually we will all die. These are two truths that are too hard to fathom. Each of us have our own experiences and life and pathway that have gotten us to where we are today. All of us are going to die in different ways and different times. Some people are dying right now. In my life personally I have dealt with a lot of death on and off the job. Being a CNA is hard because you get so close with your residents. The 5 stages of grief are there to help you get through your loss no matter how close the person was to you. They are as if a map that is there to show you what is next and where to go.

Greif and loss is experienced by everyone from all cultures. Grief is when individuals process the loss of a valuable friend, family member or someone they know. Greif can be from someone crying to celebrating the life of an individual. Loss can happen through terminal illness, loss of relationships or the death of a human or animal.

Theories and models that have been developed to explain how or why we feel what we do and ways of working through grief. Many professionals have expanded on Freud’s model of bereavement, which emphasises that grief about personal attachments and the process of experiencing pain, detaching from the deceased and rebuilding a new life with them (Walsh, 2012). Margaret Stroebe and Hank Schut’s model attempts to explain how people alternate from intense pining and normality for the dead person (Walsh, 2012). Psychologist J. William Worden’s stage-based model outlines four tasks of grief, to: accept, work through, adjust, maintain and move on (Worden & Winokuer, 2011). Therese Rando’s model outlines how people proceed through six phases of mourning in order

The authors share the historical moments of the art of grief therapy. Grief, understood in human terms, has existed as long as humanity itself, standing in the intersection of attachment and separation, and of love and loss. And for nearly as long the anguish and hope uniquely associated with the death of members of the community have found expression in art, from Paleolithic cave paintings to ritual chants, music and dances across cultures, and from religious art in innumerable spiritual traditions to secular poetry and prose. The authors intent in compiling this volume was to explore this conjunction in the contemporary context of grief therapy, where a lively acquaintance with expressive arts modalities can make a profound contribution.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross developed methods for counseling after personal traumas and grief related to the death and dying process. Higher stages of grief implementation, utilization occurs within the grief and hospice care. Kubler-Ross and Kessler (nd) indicates that misunderstanding surrounds her stages of death as those focused on the typical responses that people experience when they suffer a loss. Kubler-Ross and Kessler acknowledge how everyone is unique, and this includes his or her grieving process.