Grief

Pinball as a model for dealing with grief

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The process of grieving can be compared to the workings of a pinball machine, where mourners’ movement between different stages of grief such as shock and depression may be unpredictable, according to authors writing in September’s issue of Mental Health Practice journal.

Margaret Baier of Baylor University, Waco, Texas and Ruth Buechsel of Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, say they are not trying to suggest grief is a game or downplay the experience, but that the metaphor can help people understand that grieving is not a linear process.

As on a pinball machine, there are triggers which can prolong or even restart the process. For the mourner these could be the anniversary of a death or a special event they used to share with their loved one. This model can be used in therapy by healthcare professionals to help people understand that their
responses are normal. It may also be adaptable to help those coping with separation, divorce, loss of employment or financial loss, say the authors.

They identify numerous models and factors for understanding grief in the literature as helpful in predicting coping and adjustment in bereavement. However, they say, many of the models are misinterpreted as linear. Grieving patients often speak of feeling as though they are ‘bouncing’ from one stage to another, which elicited the image of a pinball.

They say their model contains elements of the seminal work by Kubler-Ross (1969) but illustrates the process in a way that helps bereaved people see and understand their emotional processes, which helps them normalise and move through the experience of grief. This normalisation may help people to relax and better process grief, make sense of a seemingly chaotic experience, and be prepared when grief is triggered by other events or prolonged, as in the process of complicated grief.

Reference

Kubler-Ross E (1969) On Death & Dying. Macmillan, New York NY.

Source: RCN Publishing Company Baier M, Buechsel (2012) A model to help bereaved individuals understand the grief process. Mental Health Practice. 16, 1, 28-32.

Joe Biden discusses grief and loss

Vice President Joe Biden talks with surviving family members of fallen military heroes at the opening session at the 18th Annual TAPS National Military Survivor Seminar, held over Memorial Day weekend in 2012. Biden discusses the death of his wife and young daughter in a car accident and how he dealt with grief and loss in an emotional speech.

The new edition of a psychiatric manual called DSM-5 tackles what to do when mourning becomes complicated or leads to depression

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Sooner or later most of us suffer deep grief over the death of someone we love. The experience often causes people to question their sanity—as when they momentarily think they have caught sight of their loved one on a crowded street. Many mourners ponder, even if only abstractedly, their reason for living. But when are these disturbing thoughts and emotions normal—that is to say, they become less consuming and intense with the passage of time—and when do they cross the line to pathology, requiring ongoing treatment with powerful antidepressants or psychotherapy, or both? link to continue reading

Source: Scientific American

When grief becomes a disease

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Its hard to distinguish what makes a person resilient. The death of a loved one can have a profound effect, and whilst we know that loss is forever, acute grief is not. A small minority of people have a much harder time of dealing with grief.

In the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, a group of French investigators headed by Guy Chouinard presents data that indicate that grief after the loss of a significant other may become a disease. [continue reading…]