Aging Process

The first article I chose to read was about grief, and how to cope with it. The loss of a loved one cause’s great stress can temporarily interfere with concentration, decision making, and work performance. With enough support and help, grief can promote personal growth of all of those involved in the process. According to this article, grief can be triggered by extreme isolation, depression, or other additive behaviors. Other indicators that show one who is dealing with grief may include quick replacement of the lost relationship or avoidance of any reminder of or imitation of the deceased.
Many people who experience these symptoms need some sort of intervention by health care professionals. According to this article, there are many different types of grief that one can experience. These types include chronic grief, delayed grief, exaggerated grief, masked grief, and disenfranchised grief. Chronic grief begins as “normal grief,” but instead of going away, it continues for a very long time. Some people tend to define themselves by their losses, which leads to the development of chronic grief.
Delayed grief is when a survivor consciously or unconsciously holds back their feelings in order to avoid pain, such as avoiding discussion of the deceased, or working too much. In masked grief, the survivor is not aware that their response to grief is getting in the way of them performing daily functions. One who is experiencing this may refuse help. Disenfranchised grief can occur when a survivor can’t fully acknowledge the loss of a loved one because the relationship may be considered unacceptable. Those who experience this type of grief may be those who are gay or lesbian partners.

There have been many studies done on the effects of care giving to those who are going through grief and loss. In a recent study, 129 spouse care givers were asked to rate their levels of care giving. Those who had little or no involvement in the care of a terminally ill spouse were found to be at higher risk for complicated grief than those with greater involvement. The next article I read was also about coping with grief and loss. This article states that over the past 30 years, health care professionals have shown an increase in interest in the issues related to grief.
There have been many different studies done on grief and loss, some of which have the same conclusions and others that differ in outcomes. However, in spite of these varied findings, it seems to be that following the death of a loved one, there tends to be an increase in headaches, dizziness, trembling, etc. It has been recommended that these symptoms can be signs of grief. There has also been an interest on whether or not people who are going grieving a loss require more psychiatric care during their mourning period. There have been few studies done to show some answers, but data is inconclusive.
This article defines grief as one who was experienced the loss of a loved one to death. This article also explains that when someone experiences the loss of an important person, there is a tendency for that person to feel helpless, like they are unable to exist without that person. Some may also have mixed emotions of sadness and anger. Aside from the emotional responses to grief, there are also physical features that accompany grief. Some of these features are tightening of the chest, hollowness of the stomach, tightness in the throat, and lack of energy.
This article states the order in which grief tends to happen; disbelief, confusion, preoccupation, sense of presence, and hallucinations. There are also a variety of different behaviors that are associated with grief reactions. These can go from sleep deprivation, and loss of appetite, to social withdrawal. Although these articles both discuss grief and loss, they differ in certain ways. The first article talked more about the different types of grief, and described the characteristics of them individually. The first article also discussed the effects of a person who is not involved in care giving to their loved on who is terminally ill.
I felt that the second article talked more about the most basic type of grief in full detail. The second article, as opposed to the first article, went into detail about the physical features that also accompany grief. I also think that the second article talked about more broad concepts of grief, where as the first article was more specific in its focus on grief. I really enjoyed the articles that I read. I aspire to become a grief and loss counselor one day, so I felt that these articles really pertained to what I am interested in. I think that they explained things very easy, in words that I could actually comprehend.
I believe that grief and loss counselors are very important in society; everyone at some point will lose someone they love, and may need the special support of a professional. I also found this topic to be of relevance because my best friends’ father just passed away about a month ago. I have been helping her mourn and go through the grieving process. Reading these articles made me realize things that I have been doing correct, and maybe some things that I could try to do better to help her through this very hard time. I think that these articles clearly defined grief, and all of the components that go along with it.
I feel that everyone should read an article on how to help one cope with grief, just because mourning is a process that is all to common. Helping one get through these times is something that we can all improve upon. As much as I did enjoy both articles, I found my self more intrigued in the second article. It was a bit longer in length, and was very detailed. I think that the second article talked about a lot of different topics associated with grief and loss, where as the first article really just talked about the book definition of grief, and how to cope.