Loss of Spouse: Coping with Grief and Finding Support

Running head: LOSS OF SPOUSE
LOSS OF SPOUSE
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LOSS OF SPOUSE
Introduction:
Losing a spouse can be devastating irrespective of the death being sudden or because of
the result of a long illness. In addition to the different types of intense emotions as well as
lifestyle changes and the many practical considerations that can accompany death of the spouse,
individuals are also seen to feel overwhelmed as well as anxious about the future. This
assignment would be mainly based on a specific type of loss like the loss of spouse and would
critically analyze the issue in details (Maccallum et al. 2017). It would also discuss the role of
four members who can help such individuals who are facing the loss of the spouse and enable
them to overcome the phase and come back to normal lives.
Losing a spouse is found to be life-changing and the normal reaction to such incidence is
profound grief. It has been found that such grief often intensifies in such a way that it interferes
with the ability in moving towards ones’ own life. Often researchers term such cases as
complicated grief (Eckholdt et al. 2018). A number of different signs and symptoms have been
found to remain intricately associated with such complicated grief occurring due to loss of
spouse. Through the different qualitative studies based on the interviews of affected individuals
who have lost their spouse within 6 months, a wealth of information had been gathered. These
are development of feelings as if the individuals have no purpose of living anymore. They also
face difficulty in performing everyday activities and also they are seen to experience continued
feelings of guilt and blame themselves for the death f their loved ones. “I wish I had died as
well” and “I have lost the desire to live” are some of the responses given by the affected
individuals in the open-ended interviews conducted with the participants (Rosenblatt 2016).

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LOSS OF SPOUSE
Loss of spouse is found to be intricately associated with not only emotional pain but also
with physical pain (Miles et al. 2016). It has been found that people who are in the grieving stage
can go through several problems that include trouble in sleeping as well as loss of appetite.
Individuals are seen to develop little interest in food along with problems of concentration.
Individuals are also seen to develop a hard time making different decisions where they are found
to be confused as well as in loss of words. Many of the studies have also demonstrated that
spousal bereavement is one of the major sources of the life stress that often are seen to leave
people vulnerable towards the later problems. These are seen to include depression, chronic
stress as well as reduced life expectancy (Roth et al. 2015). It has been even found that when the
grief procedures continue for weeks and months but in some other individuals, a small minority
of the bereaved persons are seen to experience symptoms for longer.
Another common theme that emerged out from the papers is “loneliness”. It has been
found that loneliness is considered by the researchers to be one of the greatest challenges for the
seniors and mainly dealt with loss of spouse making it particularly hard for them to move on
with the lives afterward. This is indeed considered to be one of the major health risk factors for
the older cohorts of people. Studies have found that such incidents of loss of spouse expose the
older people to an increased risk of depression as well as risks of suicide (Chow 2017). Seniors
who are dealing with stress of the death of their spouse are seen to engage themselves in the
risky behaviors that included smoking, drug as well as alcohol abuse. They also fail to take care
about their own selves and are seen to become more inactive. Researchers have found that
loneliness after losing a spouse lead to reduction of the life expectancy as well as an increased
risk of dementia and other serious health problems (Bruinsma et al. 2015).

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LOSS OF SPOUSE
Fernández-Alcántara and Zech (2017) have been of the opinion that the kind of
relationship that the surviving as well as the deceased spouse shared can have considerable
amount of difference as well. The researchers had found that widowed individuals who were
highly dependent on their spouses are more likely in developing problems with that of anxiety
afterword. On the other hand, it has been also found that strong marital closeness can lead to
greater loneliness for the surviving spouses. Boelen (2015) has been of the opinion that the death
of the spouse might end the relationship but can do not sever all relational bonds. They state that
the sense of being connected to a lost figure persists even after the death of the spouse can result
in sometimes exacerbating a sense of having been abandoned, or sometimes being contributing
to a sense of having been abandoned and sometimes contributing to a sense of continuing in a
relationship although with that of the absent partner.
A completely different scenario had been the main topic of discussion in the research
paper by (Currier et al. 2015). The researchers are of the opinion that death of the spouse is likely
to alter the surviving spouse’s role as well as standing in the community with widows and
widowers being often excluded from the sociability of couples. Widows who had been active
participants in the leisure activities as members of the couple and widowers who had completely
relied on their spouses for arranging their social lives may find that their bereavement usher in
the time of social marginality. Miller (2015) had stated that individuals who are survivors and
face troubles in establishing new relationships remain in the more vulnerable position to
experience feelings of isolation. Such problems of social isolation are found to be present in a
pronounced form among the elderly women who cannot frequently afford social outings and also
for those who live long distances from their grown children. Failing health and chronic health