Grief

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how grief is complex and should be respected and how the need for counseling in order to be healed from grief varies from individual to individual. The paper looks at how, for those who need it, the pastoral counselor can be a companion, empathizer, witness to the mourner's work, and a friendly guide that helps his "client" find the good in the experience by locating its benefits and opportunities for spiritual growth. The paper also examines how grief triggers the need to make sense out of what has happened and to create a new sense of meaning. This may be done by talking (narrative reconstruction) and reading literature (bibliotherapy).

Outline:
Memory of Grief
Ego Integrity, Life Review, and Narrative Reconstruction
Narrative Reconstruction
Bibliotherapy
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Grief is painful. When we talk about grief we are referring to the extreme emotional reaction of an individual to loss, which often includes shock, sadness, fear, anger, confusion, somatic disorders, and loss of identity. If the grief is not resolved, complicated grief will be the outcome; that is, grief that is prolonged past what society considers normal (Curran, 2007). Some people grieve for years and never do resolve it (Paffenroth, 2006), especially the parents of a child who has died. Commonly, we associate grief with bereavement or the loss of a loved one to death; however, other losses cause grief also, losses such as sensory loss (hearing or vision), loss of memory (as in Alzheimer's, for example), loss of employment, mobility, or independence. Crawford-Faucher (2007) discusses the professionally induced grief that nurses inevitably suffer when all the deaths they witness add up and become somehow "personal." "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, R. A. (2006). Immunity and grief. Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine, 276, 128.
• Briggs, C. A. and Pehrsson, D. (2008). Use of bibliotherapy in the treatment of grief and loss: A guide to current counseling practices. Adultspan Journal, 7 (1), 32-43.
• Bush, H. K. (2007). Grief work: After a child dies. The Christian Century, 124 (25), 36-40.
• Care of the elderly - bereavement: An essential guide (2006). The Practitioner (June 29), 22-29.
• Crawford-Faucher, A. (2007). Learning goodbye (in sickness and health). Families, Systems & Health, 25 (2), 236-238.

More papers on Grief:

• Article Review # 144046 : "Article Critique of "Grief in the Workplace"
• Research Paper # 97384 : "Grief Counseling"
• Book Review # 70237 : "Grief Recovery"
• Book Review # 69158 : "Grief in "Hamlet"

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