Medical Model Of Grief

Grief is an experience that emanates from the inside of loss. Grief must be expressed and acknowledged for healing to begin. That process is called mourning and can happen in many ways. Crying, painting, music, praying and many more things are ways to express grief through mourning. There are a couple different kinds of loss. There is the loss of a loved one. This can be a death of a loved one, which would be a physical loss. Or, the loss of what someone once was, which can happen by a coma, Alzheimer's, or dementia. There is loss in divorce, and moving. In a flood there is loss of sentimental items like photographs and mementos. Loss can and does vary in how it shows up. Grief and loss go hand in hand. When a loss happens
I personally use the contemplative model and have had experience with both models. The medical model of grief is a clinical approach to the grieving process. It is an approach that views grief as something that needs to be fixed, or that there is a goal in recovery. The idea that doing something will give a result of moving in grief is another aspect. There is a success mindset to the medical model of grief. Success comes when a person is feeling better or moving forward with their lives. There is also an aspect of control to the medical model. We as humans are very much in control of the process and want to fill the voids and spaces with words, actions and distractions. Also in the medical model a prescription may be described for depression, or inability to sleep or another malady that may be viewed as a side effect of grieving. When I was 9 years old my grandma died. I witnessed the adults around me utilize the medical model for grieving. It did not make much sense to me at my young age. It was also my first experience with death which added to the confusion I felt. My grandfather was not moving on like he was expected to do after my grandmother had been gone for a year. I watched my mother cajole him into getting rid of things, and trying to fix my grandfather who was sad. It did not seem that any of his friends knew how to sit and listen to him nor did my mother. I myself
The idea that love can bring about healing allowing us to live more fully alive. Grief in the contemplative model is more of a journey and experience versus something that we do or achieve. Offering compassion for someone who is grieving no matter where they are in the journey is freeing. People can be hard on themselves which can cause them to stay stuck in places and offering compassion and also modeling compassion is helpful. I love that there is no timeframe in the contemplative model. A friend of mine is still grieving the loss of her brother three years after his death. There have been many people around her who do not understand she is on a journey in her grief. She has been told by many to just move on, that at this point her sadness is pointless. My friend Trish has said that as time goes on she notices the loss less often but that she still has grief over the unexpected tragic loss of her brother. I am glad that she has found the freedom to walk her journey of grief in her own timeframe. I also love that in this model of grief there can be forward motion or even backward motion in the process. That what matters is how the person is experiencing grief. Are they being loved well in the process, do they have a companion that can walk with them in their grief versus having to see a counselor. The idea that trusting in something other than people or self