1. Personal Loss:
Bereavement and Grief
Chapter Twelve

2. Understanding Loss
 Bereavement
 Uncomplicated bereavement
 Grief
 Complicated grief/prolonged grief
 Traumatic grief
 Disenfranchised grief
 Loss
 Primary loss
 Secondary loss
 Ambiguous loss
 Mourning

3. Dynamics of Bereavement
 Cultural Dynamics
 Culture
3 patterns of response:
 Death accepting
 Death defying
 Death denying
 Sociocultural Mores
 Spirituality and Religion

4. Conceptual Approaches to
Bereavement
 Stage/Phase Models
 Kubler-Ross’s Stages
 Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
 Schneider’s Growth Model
 Counterpart to Traditional Models
 Dual Process Model
 Loss orientation
 Restoration orientation
 Adaptive Model
 Intuitive grieving Instrumental grieving

5. Assessment Tools
 Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG)
 Current Grief
 Past Disruption
 Grief Experience Inventory (GEI)
 Nine clinical scales
 Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC)
 Can discriminate variability in the grieving process as a
function of cause of death and time elapsed since death
 Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG)
 Targets symptoms of grief that are distinct from
bereavement-related depression and anxiety, and predicts
long-term functional impairments

6. Types of Loss
 Death of a Spouse
 One of the most emotionally stressful and disruptive
events in life
 More widows than widowers
 Loss Due to Caregiving
 Death of a Child
 Perhaps the ultimate loss for a person to endure
regardless of the age of the child

7. Types of Loss
 Bereavement in Childhood
 Toddlers
 Primary school age
 Middle school age
 Intervention and treatment
 Bereavement in Adolescence
 Value of connectedness
 Intervention and treatment
 Bereavement in the Elderly
 Present more somatic problems than psychological problems
 No indication that the intensity of grief varies significantly with age
 Grief among older people may be more prolonged than among
younger people
 Tend to be lonelier and to have far longer periods of loneliness than
younger people

8. Types of Loss
 HIV/AIDS
 Job Loss
 Separation and Divorce
 Death of a Pet
 Complicated Grief
 Traumatic grief

9. Being There for Grievers
 Empathic Presence
 Gentle Conversation
 Providing Available Space
 Eliciting Trust

10. Fitting Technique to Style of Grief
 The Dual Process Model
 Thegriever sometimes confronts and sometimes
avoids the stressors of both orientations
 Adaptive Model
 Affective
 Behavioral
 Cognitive
 Spiritual

11. Fitting Technique to Style of Grief
 Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches
 Mostcommonly used therapies for those who suffer
from complicated grief
 Narrative Therapy
 Reconstructs
the relationship with the deceased rather
than abandoning it
 Attachment Theory and Therapy
 One of the oldest theories that deals with grief and
loss
 “Coherent narrative”

12. Examples for Dealing with Loss
 Sudden Death of a Spouse
 Stuart
 Traumatic Death of a Child
 Helen and Brad
 Bereavement in Childhood
 Makeena
 Separation and Divorce
 Nancy

13. Examples for Dealing with Loss
 Death of a Pet
 The Thompsons
 Bereavement in Elderly People
 Lenore
 Bereavement in an HIV-Infected Client
 Clint
 Complicated Grief: Death of a Mother
 Ann Marie

14. The Crisis Worker's Own Grief
 Emotional investment in the client
 Bereavement overload
 Countertransference
 Emotional replenishment
 Facing one’s own mortality
 Sense of power
 Tendency to rescue