Grief, Bereavement And Disenfranchised Grief

Grief is a natural response to a major loss, though often deeply painful and can have a negative impact on your life. Any loss can cause varied levels of grief often when someone least expects it however, loss is widely varied and is often only perceived as death. Tugendhat (2005) argued that losses such as infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, adoption and divorce can cause grief in everyday life. Throughout our lives we all face loss in one way or another, whether it is being diagnosed with a terminal illness, loss of independence due to a serious accident or illness, gaining a criminal record (identity loss), losing our job, home or ending a relationship; we all experience loss

Death is a universally experienced phenomenon. In the United States alone, over 2.6 million people die each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). For practitioners, it is of utmost importance to better understand the process of grief to develop better interventions for bereaved individuals.

“Disenfranchised Grief. People experience disenfranchised grief, also know as marginal or unsupported grief, when their relationship to the deceased person is not socially sanctioned, cannot be openly shared or seems of lesser significance. The person’s loss and grief do not meet the norms of grief acknowledged

The Two-Track Model of Bereavement is a model that states loss is conceptualized along two axes. Track I pertains to the biopsychosocial functioning in the event of a loss and Track II pertains to the bereaved’s continued emotional attachment and relationship to whoever is deceased. The effect of Track I is seen through the bereaved’s functioning, including their anxiety, their self-esteem and self-worth, and their depressive affect and cognitions. Noting the ability of one to invest in life tasks after experiencing a loss indicates how they are responding to the loss of the deceased. This Track is seen as an expression similar to one of trauma, or crisis. Track II holds that the bereaved has difficulty physically separating from the deceased. This can be seen in emotional, interpersonal, or cognitive ways. It is shown through imagery and memories that the bereaved experiences surrounding the deceased, whether positive or negative, as well as the emotional distance from them. These pictures in the bereaved’s head explain both the cognitive and emotional view of the person who has died (Rubin, 1999).

Death is a part of life and eventually everyone on this earth will experience it. Nurses play an important role in death. Mourning the death of a loved one is something that almost everyone will experience in this lifetime because it is a natural response to death. Bereavement, grief and mourning are all effected by one’s culture, religion, the relationship with the deceased, personality, and how the person died.

Losing a loved one can be very painful, emotional and overwhelming. The difficult part after losing a loved one is learning how to cope with the loss. In order for nurses to help individuals cope with a loss of a loved one it is important for them to understand the grief process. This paper will define and explain the bereavement role, disenfranchised grief, four tasks of mourning and how nurses can help bereaved individuals with these processes.

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

Disenfranchised grief pretty much comes down to grief that is unacceptable to others. Some examples for this type of grieving can be things like loss from a miscarriage, infertility, or even when giving a child for adoption. Other disenfranchised types of grief can be when someone you loved dies from committing suicide, drug overdose, or from a sexually transmitted disease. There is also loss from a fail marriage, death of a same-sex partner or even experiencing the death of a partner in which an extramarital affair was involved.

Viorst (1986) stated that the losses that we experience are necessary for us to grow and adapt as part of our normal functioning. Loss is natural, unavoidable, and inexorable; losses are necessary because we grow by losing and leaving and letting go (Darcy, 2011). After that we encounter those losses we grief, which is defined as the physical, psychological, and social reactions to the loss of something or someone important to us (Hooyman & Kramer, 2006). Everyone reaction to grief and loss are different, for example when my mom lost her mother when she was sixteen her coping strategies were different from her sisters from what I learned. Myself, I also encountered many losses from my childhood to today and I never really understood how they shaped me until I started thinking about them for this particular assignment.

Working with loss, death and bereavement: a guide for social workers, Sage, London. Wimpen. & Costello, J. 2012. Grief, loss and bereavement: evidence and practice for health and social care practitioners, Routledge,

This essay explores several models and theories that discuss the complexities of loss and grief. A discussion of the tasks, reactions and understanding of grief through the different stages from infants to the elderly, will also be attempted.

The loss of a loved one is a very crucial time where an individual can experience depression, somatic symptoms, grief, and sadness. What will be discussed throughout this paper is what the bereavement role is and its duration, as well as the definition of disenfranchised grief and who experiences this type of grief. I will also touch upon the four tasks of mourning and how each bereaved individual must accomplish all four tasks before mourning can be finalized. Lastly, with each of these topics, nursing implications will be outlined on how to care for bereaved individuals and their families.

The life transition of death and dying is inevitably one with which we will all be faced; we will all experience the death of people we hold close throughout our lifetime. This paper will explore the different processes of grief including the bereavement, mourning, and sorrow individuals go through after losing someone to death. Bereavement is a period of adaptation following a life changing loss. This period encompasses mourning, which includes behaviors and rituals following a death, and the wide range of emotions that go with it. Sorrow is the state of ongoing sadness not overcome in the grieving process; though not pathological, persistent

Death of a loved one can be overwhelming. The world changes for those in grief. While some may be grateful that loved ones, are no longer suffer, others may be not prepared for a family member or friends life to end. Maybe the death was sudden, or a death of a child, nobody can prepare those left behind for the anguish of experiences. Grief often lies outside of words, beyond the simple clarification of our conscious minds. It is in the unconscious, the mystery of life, which expression, deep wounds and triggers, that becomes overwhelming for the individual (Earl, 2007).

Bereavement is defined as the state or the fact of being bereaved or deprived of someone or something. During the bereavement process people may experience a period of intense grief, which can negatively impact their physical and psychosocial wellbeing (Waller et al., 2016). This may be known as complicated grief and be accompanied by symptoms of loneliness, isolation, suicidal thoughts, and an obsession with the deceased person that they are mourning over. Sufferers also tend to show no or limited interest in ongoing life. Factors that