Loss and Grief Essay
Essay Title:
Loss and grief:
Grieving allows us to heal, to remember with love rather than pain.
It is a sorting process.
One by one you let go of things that are gone and you mourn for them.
One by one you take hold of the things that have become a part of who you are and build again.
—Rachael Naomi Remen. MD
1966.
Introduction
In this essay I will outline the main theoretical models relating to loss and grief. I will show how these theories may support individuals within the counselling process.
To demonstrate the above I will draw upon my experience and learning from classroom triadic practice, my counselling placement practice and my personal and professional development to date.
During the process of which I will demonstrate my awareness of the implications and need for client and self care. I will also discuss the significance of cultural variations related to the models discussed.
Outline of Theories and Models
Sigmund Freud pioneered the study of mourning; he stated that melancholia was related to mourning and the individuals search for lost attachment. Freud stated that ambivalence in a relationship might have its root in past-unresolved grief and mourning. (Gay P.1995)
The characteristics of "normal" grief were documented in 1944 when psychiatrist Erich Lindenmann conducted his study of relatives who had lost loved ones. His findings have been labelled "the symptomatology of acute grief. " (Worden, 2009. Grief and Counselling Therapy Handbook. http://www.socialworkers).
Freud and Linnenman acknowledged, in this essay it is my intention to focus on more contemporary models of loss and grief and the theorists who, in the past thirty years have paved the way for counselling practitioners today.
Since all the models outlined are concerned with loss, they can also be used in relation to other life-changing events involving loss, such as divorce, redundancy and illness.
Firstly I shall give a brief outline of these theories,
Loss and grief:
Grieving allows us to heal, to remember with love rather than pain.
It is a sorting process.
One by one you let go of things that are gone and you mourn for them.
One by one you take hold of the things that have become a part of who you are and build again.
—Rachael Naomi Remen. MD
1966.
Introduction
In this essay I will outline the main theoretical models relating to loss and grief. I will show how these theories may support individuals within the counselling process.
To demonstrate the above I will draw upon my experience and learning from classroom triadic practice, my counselling placement practice and my personal and professional development to date.
During the process of which I will demonstrate my awareness of the implications and need for client and self care. I will also discuss the significance of cultural variations related to the models discussed.
Outline of Theories and Models
Sigmund Freud pioneered the study of mourning; he stated that melancholia was related to mourning and the individuals search for lost attachment. Freud stated that ambivalence in a relationship might have its root in past-unresolved grief and mourning. (Gay P.1995)
The characteristics of "normal" grief were documented in 1944 when psychiatrist Erich Lindenmann conducted his study of relatives who had lost loved ones. His findings have been labelled "the symptomatology of acute grief. " (Worden, 2009. Grief and Counselling Therapy Handbook. http://www.socialworkers).
Freud and Linnenman acknowledged, in this essay it is my intention to focus on more contemporary models of loss and grief and the theorists who, in the past thirty years have paved the way for counselling practitioners today.
Since all the models outlined are concerned with loss, they can also be used in relation to other life-changing events involving loss, such as divorce, redundancy and illness.
Firstly I shall give a brief outline of these theories,
References: Bridges. Transition, Making sense of Life’s Changes. 2nd Ed, 2004.Pub Da Capo Press, Persius book group. Cambridge. London. Kubler-Ross E. 1969. On Death and dieing. What the dieing have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. MacMillan publishing NY. The Freud Reader Ed Gay Peter. Pub Vintage. 1995. Worden W. Grief Counselling and Grief Therapy 4th Ed. 2009 Springer Publishing Company, 11 West 42nd Street. New York. www.springerpub.com