Grief Research Paper

Jessie Walsh

PSY 100

Michelle Greigo

October 2 2016

Greif Research

        Everyone goes through some type of grief when a loved one dies or someone close to you dies. In bereavement we spend a certain amount of time on each of the five stages of Grief that is explained by   DR. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.  Just remember everyone grieves different and for someone who may cry another may not.  

 There are five stages of grief they are Denial, isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptances as Elisabeth Kubler- Ross describes.  Denial and isolation this is normally the first reaction that someone may have when a loved one or friend is diagnosed with a serious illness, when you have the loss or death of a loved one is you may be in  denial, and this is a normal reaction of the reality you may think that this is not happening, and this is a normal emotion.    Once denial and Isolation begin to wear then there is anger reality and pain kick in, with intense emotion we may turn it into anger.  Whether it is anger towards that of a loved one, or towards the person who is sick and dying we know that the person should not be blamed.  However emotionally we are angry at the person for leaving us or causing us pain.  We will tend to start to feel guilty for being angry at them and this makes us angrier.  Bargaining is a normal reaction the thought of we should have got a second opinion, we should have taken them to the doctor sooner. There are two types of depression related to mourning, when your reaction to the  way you feel about the loss, sadness and regret are a  top sign for this type of depression, many people will  worry about the cost for the burial and funeral expenses. (Axelrod. J. 2016). The second type is more privet where it could be that we are just missing a loved one so much that alls we really want is a hug. The final stage of grief is Acceptance; with death being sudden or unexpected we may never get over the anger or denial.

        There are ways that many different cultures grief and mourn the loss of a loved one. Public mourning was not allowed in most cultures until the twentieth century.  Many times people would show up if your husband died would bring food such as fresh baked rolls or soup.    Many nations such as China and Greece death were met  among family and neighbors after the death of a loved one.  They would have a viewing after the cleaning of the body which is known now as a wake in several countries. In Rome mourners wore dark togas, as special mourning clothes; the practice of this was common in Europe.  In the Victorian era in England and the United States families followed  morning rituals restricting clothing that they may wear in their social lives and adhering dress code.  When a person starts off with full mourning they would wear a black such as a black robe, once gradually moved to half mourning people would start wearing gray and lavender was the permitted clothing.   Hindus friends would visit the houses of the people who passed away and for twelve days chant hymns to urge the soul on to the next world.  Jewish mourners would sit on a low chair and choose whether or not to acknowledge the visitors those who were mourning their parents would recite Kaddish for eleven months.  In the American culture now we have a wake for family and friends to say their good buys as well as a funeral to send the loved one off to heaven, People wear black to funerals but now a day’s people are wearing other things other than just black.