INFLUENCE OF SEX OF PARENT, TIMING OF LOSS AND AGE OF CHILD ON UNRESOLVED GRIEF AMONG BEREAVED PARENTS

INFLUENCE OF SEX OF PARENT, TIMING OF LOSS AND AGE OF CHILD ON UNRESOLVED GRIEF AMONG BEREAVED PARENTS

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Bereavement is an inevitable part of life. The individual’s reaction to it depends on higher relationship to the dead person. Bereavement brings about feeling of sadness emptiness, dejection and a times depression. Death is an unpleasant experience, and it forces people to make significant adjustment in their lives. The Psychological adjustment required during mourning include: coping with loneliness, finding new meaning for life, coping with anger, coping with guilt and low self-esteem, and seeking new sources of love.

Given the number of major adjustment require it is no wonder that death of a loved one is such a stressful experience. Bereaved parents often refers to their loss as the ultimate tragedy. According to Alexy (1982), following the death of a child the grieving process is usually experienced intensely and often includes periods of numbness, despair, loneliness and isolation, anger, guilt and waves of some other forms of negative emotion. Quite often, changes in fundamental life values and philosophical beliefs are reported by some as a consequence of experiencing the death of a child (Rando, 1984).

Even though some attention has been paid to the psycho-social situation of the widowed, less attention is being paid to the plight of bereaved parents. The experience of loss among bereaved parents is usually intensified because of the tenacious emotional bonding between parent and child and the perception of the death as being unnatural (since parents are expected to die before their children, all things being equal).

Markusen. Owen, Fulton and Bendiksen (1978) while considering a situation which can, lead to complication in the grieving process of bereaved parents, focused on some of the