Understanding Grief: Theories, Mediators, and Impact of Loss Explored

This essay provides an overview of grief, loss, and bereavement, defining grief and exploring different types of loss, including necessary, conditional, actual, maturational, and perceived loss. It delves into attachment theory, highlighting Bowlby's perspective on the importance of attachment for comfort and protection. The essay examines various grief theories, such as Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) and Lindemann's stages (shock and disbelief, acute mourning, resolution). Furthermore, it discusses William Worden's seven mediators of grief, which include the nature of the relationship, cause of death, history of other losses, stressors, individual factors, and social factors. The essay also contrasts expected death due to medical illness with sudden death from accidents or suicide. The document concludes by referencing various studies and publications in the field of grief and bereavement.

Greif, Loss and
Bereavement.
Theories of loss.

Introduction
 Definition of grief.
 Attachment and grief theory.
 William Worden’s seven mediators of
grief.
 Impact of expected and unexpected
death.

Greif and loss
 Loss is defined as the fact or process of
losing something or someone.
 Grief is defined as the normal and
natural process of reacting to the loss
(Thompson, 2012).

Loss
 Different types of loss are-
 Necessary
 Conditional
 Actual
 Maturational
 Perceived

Grief
 There are different types of grief and are
described as-
 Normal and common grief
 Anticipatory
 Complicated
 Disenfranchised

Attachment theory
 Attachment theory- it is
concept on developmental
psychology that explains the
importance of attachment to
the personality and
psychology development of
the individual (Bowlby, 1998).
 Bowlby’s attachment theory-
he defined that being
attached provides a child to
with comfort and protection
that is required for survival.

Greif theory
 Kubler- Ross five stages of grief.
 According to research by Kubler Ross for
terminally ill patients they identified five stages
of grief.
 Stages include-
 Denial
 Anger
 Bargaining
 Depression
 acceptance

Greif theory
 Lindemann theory includes following
stages of grief-
 Shock and disbelief
 Acute mourning
 Resolutions of grief process

Seven mediators of grief
 William Worden proposed seven mediators
of grief that are-
 Who was the person who died?
 Nature of the relationship
 Cause of death
 History of other loss
 Other stressors
 Individual factors
 Social factors

Sudden and expected death
 Expected death is defined as the
expected loss due to medial or terminal
illness.
 Sudden death is considered as the
unexpected loss due to accident,
suicide, homicide or illness.

Conclusion

Reference list
 Walter, C.A. and McCoyd, J.L., 2015. Grief and loss across the lifespan: A
biopsychosocial perspective. Springer publishing company.
 Rosenblatt, P.C., 2016. Parent grief: Narratives of loss and relationship. Routledge.
 Doka, K.J. ed., 2014. Living with grief: After sudden loss suicide, homicide,
accident, heart attack, stroke. Taylor & Francis.
 Bowlby, J., 1998. Loss: Sadness and depression (No. 3). Random House.
 Holmes, J., 2014. John Bowlby and attachment theory. Routledge.
 Hedtke, L. and Winslade, J., 2016. The crafting of grief: Constructing aesthetic
responses to loss. Routledge.
 Hall, C., 2014. Bereavement theory: recent developments in our understanding of
grief and bereavement. Bereavement Care, 33(1), pp.7-12.
 McAlearney, A.S., Hefner, J.L., Sieck, C.J. and Huerta, T.R., 2015. The journey
through grief: insights from a qualitative study of electronic health record
implementation. Health services research, 50(2), pp.462-488.
 INCARCERATED, S.C.A., 2016. CHAPTER NINE LIFE, LOSS AND LOCK-UP: SPIRITUAL
CARE AMONG INCARCERATED YOUNG PEOPLE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA NIGEL
UPPILL. Spirituality for Youth-Work: New Vocabulary, Concepts and Practices,
p.168.
 Parkes, C.M. and Prigerson, H.G., 2013. Bereavement: Studies of grief in adult life.
Routledge.

Further reading
 Hansson, R.O. and Stroebe, M.S., 2007.
Bereavement in late life: Coping, adaptation,
and developmental influences. American
Psychological Association.
 Shuchter, S.R. and Zisook, S., 1993. The
course of normal grief.
 Worden, J.W., 2018. Grief counseling and
grief therapy: A handbook for the mental
health practitioner. springer publishing
Company.