Humanitarian and Communities Studies

Question: Discuss about theHumanitarian and Communities Studies. Answer: Introduction Grief may be defined as the response of a survivor to the loss of loved ones. Grief and bereavement are an inevitable part of human lives. The grief that an individual experiences is unique and incomparable. However, the pain caused due to the loss of a loved one is similar to the pain caused due to a burn. George Engels compares the psychological trauma to the physiological one. The grief person experiences can be considered a departure from the state of well-being. The intensity of pain depends on the nature of the relationship. A person may experience numerous kind and amount of grief during one's lifetime. It is during the old age that bereavement and grief occur more frequently. Older people endure the loss of relatives, former colleagues, husband, or wife, or other elderly friends. Loss of near and dear ones creates a stressful event and creates an emotional crisis. Bereavement increases the desire of death. Seeing loss of friends and relatives, one may feel deprived of death. The process of grieving is often an isolating and alienating process. It is during the death of a person that one feels completely disconnected with the outside world. It is expected that the mourner would try to relate his/her grief with someone else and try to measure the scale and extent. It is often seen that the distress is not only about the loss but also about the response that they experience. The grief gets magnified by the replies that people get from their family, friends, relatives, heath care practitioners, and co-workers. Some people think of going to counselors. Counselors try to normalize and suppress grief as bereavement in elderly people may lead to psychological illness like depression (Bowlby, 1977). While some people can cope up with the grief, some are not. The intensity and response of bereavement differ from person to person. Grief and bereavement may affect the physical as well as mental health conditions. It may lead to cognitive and communicative difficult ies. It reduces social support, changes lifestyles, and living standards, and also leads to financial hardship. Hence, it is imperative that grief related depressions must be identified in its earliest stage. It is crucial that friends and family form the life support system of the elderly person at this critical juncture. It is the role of the children to provide emotional support and better health facilities (Betz Thorngren, 2006). Senior citizens undergo a lot of bereavement in the later stages of their life. The greatest emotional blow that an older person may face is the loss of life partner. It is the partner on which people are most dependent during their last stages of life. Loss of partner at this stage may lead to mental instability and other health problems. People respond differently to loss based on internal and external factors. Grief and bereavement are shaped not only by the social and cultural context but also by the nature of the relationship between the deceased and the mourner (Bowlby, 1977). In the western society, though not explicit, there are several rules regarding grief and bereavement which are widely recognized. Such social rules determine who has the privilege of exemption from responsibilities and roles. The privileges are conditioned and granted by the authoritative figure such as a political head or a physician. According to Doka, the social rules of grieving is defined as A set of norms that attempt to determine who, when, where, how long, and for whom people should grieve (Burke Neimeyer, 2013). Many unwritten set standards in the western society describe grief. Violation of any of the set patterns may have a profound impact upon the individual who is bereaved. With the growth and advancement of technology, human beings are living for longer years. With the increase in the number of elderly people, one would find a lot of seniors who experience grief and bereavement due to loss of their spouse. Studies show that "widowhood affects three out of four women. In 1998 there were 7.8 million widowed women age 65 and older in the United States, and 1.5 million widowed elderly men (Worden, 2009). Elderly people often undergo disenfranchised grief, that is, grief not recognized by society. The grief is not recognized as people consider elderly death to be a part and parcel of life. Elderly death may be acceptable to family, friends, and relatives; it is a severe loss to the spouse who was exceedingly dependent on him/her. The grief of an individual is shaped widely by social experiences. However, the nature of the relationship between elderly people determines the extent of grief largely. The mourner passes through several stages of grief. These stages are depression, denial, acceptance, anger, and bargaining. The grief of a person begins once he/she endorses the loss and then express emotions. A bereaved person may experience a heightened sense of vulnerability (Green Grant, 2008). The mourning, bereavement, and grief of a person depend on several mediators such as the relation of the individual, the person itself, the nature of attachment, the manner the person died, proximity, unexpectedness, and suddenness among others. The nature of attachment is one of the essential mediators of grieving. The strength of the attachment with the deceased determines the intensity of grief. The more intense is the love and affection, the more intense is the grief. It also depends on the sense of security between the individuals. If the deceased were essential for the well-being of the survivor, the grief would be more. If the self-esteem of the survivor depended on the lost person, the widow is bound to experience a greater sense of his/her loss of self-esteem. The grief reaction shall be more difficult in such a situation. The feeling of security and self-esteem is very much dependent on their spouses for many individuals (Ghesquiere et al., 2015). However, after the loss of the spouse, the requirements remain the same, but the resources go missing. The ambivalence and closeness between persons in a relationship are also key determinants. There is always a degree of ambivalence in a close relationship. Though a person may love another one, there would always remain a coexistence of negative feelings. The grief reaction would be more where there is an equal coexistence of both positive and negative emotions. In a highly ambivalent relationship, the death of one person results in a tremendous sense of guilt and anger for being left alone(Galatzer-Levy Bonanno, 2012). There would always be conflicts in a relationship. In some relationships, the conflict is to a large extent and in some it is low. The conflict in a relationship affects the psychology of the survivor. This conflict is not merely the conflict during death but in the entire lifetime. The conflicts may arise from physical or sexual abuse in the past. An unresolved conflict would lead to guilt after death. The effect may be so much that the survivor may need counseling (Harris, 2010). A person may suffer from adaptation problems if the survivor is too much dependent on the deceased for daily chores such as preparing meals, paying bills, and driving. The survivor would feel vacant after the death of the spouse. However, a person less dependent would suffer less regarding daily activities. The amount and extent of bereavement in elderly people is dependent on several other factors. If a couple is married for a long time, it will result in deep attachments. The couple would be interdependent and entrenched to family roles. The death of the partner would affect the spouse deeply. The person who would be living would find it difficult to cope with the loss and adjust himself/herself to the situation. High interdependence on each other for certain activities would make adjustment for the living one difficult (Ingham et al., 2016). The bereaved may find himself/herself turning to someone who does not exist. The grief does follow any pattern or trajectory. While some may experience depression or anxiety, others may have euphoria. Some reactions include aimless wandering or insomnia. In such a situation, it is essential to take care of elders and make efforts to consider and understand the manifestations of grief. It is the responsibility of others to treat individual experie nce with respect (Klass et al., 2014). Bereavement is a very natural part of a person's life. It may have a cathartic effect. However, the subsequent period of elongated grief may prove to be harmful and may have long term consequences. A person may undergo various stages of grief namely, the acute or normal grief which is a normal reaction to the loss of the dead one. People may feel the need for isolation and alienation following the period of death. The middle stage involves longing and anxiety for the dead. In this stage, the person realizes the loss of the loved one. The person may find it hard to get support (Lindemann, 1976). People gather for funeral but soon move away to their lives leaving the bereaved person alone. In such a situation, it is not advisable to rush a person through grief as it may lead to further isolation and distress. Discussing the feelings and emotions in such a condition is essential. A person may also experience bouts of grief and emotion frequently. They may suffer a wave like grief pattern shortly after the loss. Family and friends must understand and sympathize the elders during such triggers. These waves are natural progressions in the grieving period and help the person feel in control with the emotions. Ignoring the feelings of a bereaved person or judging him/her may be detrimental (Naef et al., 2013). It is expected of an elderly person to restore his/her life after the death of the spouse. It may be an easy demand on the part of someone who is not sufferer but tough for the person who is facing the loss of a person with whom he/she has existed for so many decades. It is expected that the survivor would continue his/her everyday errand without the partner. Mary Pipher says that Its a miracle that people survive the losses of their mates. There are so many widows and widowers, and we tend to underestimate the magnitude of each tragedy. In our country we expect people to recover from grief quickly" (Parkes, 2013). While some people tend to live on the remaining life without their spouses, some are unable to do so. Individuals experience complicated grief when the process of acute grief manifests into lingering or more severe symptoms (Payne, 2005). Complicated grief is, in fact, a system that does not allow a person to accept the loss of the loved ones and resume normal day to day activities of life. Complicated grief is very much similar to acute grief but the persistence of symptoms is longer than the acute grief. Complicated grief may result in unacceptance of the loss of the loved one and intense, unbearable yearning for him/her. However, the list of sufferings and endurance may vary from person to person. Some of the criteria include inability of the person to trust others and confusion about his/her role in life. Individuals suffering from complicated grief are unable to handle the waves of grief. Elders fail to recover from such grief. However, there are significant differences between complicated grief and depression. For instance, a person suffering from complicated grief may pine for the loved ones and be even stunned because of the loss. Generalized depression lacks this pining and stunning. It is also different from posttraumatic stress as it also lacks stunning and pining for the loss (Parkes, 2013). Research shows that bereaved elderly people tend to live alone after the loss of their partners. While younger widowers and widows tend to move, the older ones remain in the same home they once lived. Living alone may be detrimental for it may arouse intense feelings and emotions. The physical surroundings shared by the couple would stimulate the memories and increase the sense of loneliness thereby leading to a sense of greater loss. Elderly people who had shared a harmonious marriage would be the greater sufferers. On the other hand, there are some who are unable to live alone after the loss and hence need familial and institutional care (Miles et al., 2016). Elderly people who are forced to leave their homes after the loss of their spouse may be at a higher risk of mortality. The loss of spouse and its effects are different for men and women. A man may face greater disruptions and difficulties than a woman. Men are more likely to face new roles; for instance, the role of a homemaker. It becomes difficult for the person to adapt the character without the partner. On the other hand, it is seen that the level of difficulty and disruption is not the same as she is more self-reliant and able to fit into the role of a homemaker. Counseling interventions may be helpful for the bereaved elderly (Harris, 2010). A significant change that a person especially, a widow would suffer the loss of husband is a radical shift in identity. It is more so in case of a woman as the identity of the wife rests on the husband. The survivor may often suffer practical and financial issues. The lifestyle undergoes a drastic change. Women realize and try to understand the financial responsibilities and men try to adapt the roles traditionally belonging to women. Such a threat and change in the identity of a person may lead to psychological distress. Also, changes occur in the use of spaces- both public and private (Green Grant, 2008). It is harder for elderly people to cope with the loss of spouse as the years spent with the partner are more compared to an adult. Old persons face severe health issues. They are more interdependent and hence their grief gets heightened. The spouse forms the emotional and other support systems. Loss of this crucial support system would naturally leave lasting effects. Loss of partner results in more struggle in life and dramatic change (Worden, 2009). The case of LGBT individuals, the sense of loss and bereavement is more compared to others as the couples of LGBT face stigmatization and marginalization from the society. They are more vulnerable to psychological trauma post the death of spouse as such couples are highly interdependent. They are already sufferers of sexual prejudice. They lack the support of institutions and heteronormative culture. In such a scenario in which the person is deemed a minor, it is imperative that the person would suffer from more severe psychological traumas. Institutions and doctors may be reluctant to help such individuals. They may receive unsympathetic responses from the society and thus the grief may be internalized and re-traumatized (Green Grant, 2008). There are many therapeutic techniques to resolve the problem of stress and trauma due to loss of dear and near ones. Reminiscing can be a useful technique to stimulate and breathe life in the elderly adults. Also called life review, reminiscing is a process that occurs naturally. It brings progressiveness in the life of the person. It brings backs the consciousness of past experiences and a resurgence of unresolved conflicts. The process of reminiscence serves the function of adaptation. Siblings and family members can act as the principal source as they are the ones who have seen the most of the person. Also, reminiscence is a way to retain the identity of the individual. Even though physically the person may not be present, the deceased is always present mentally. Reworking the past of the bereaved may have a salutary effect (Bowlby, 1977). Since much of the life experienced with the spouse is internalized by the survivor, he/she never truly loses the deceased mentally. The importa nce of continuing bonds has been recognized widely in the recent years. It is very much possible for an elderly person to be too much dependent on the children. They may see their children as a mode of survival after the death of their spouse. In such a scenario, their children can work wonders in developing new skills. This would benefit the elderly adults in mastering their self-esteem as well. It is important to make the person realize that he/she must not be dependent on someone else, even their children for little things like going to the market or calling the electrician or plumber for repairing. Such activities were earlier done by the husband (Burke Neimeyer, 2013). But after his death, the widow must learn to handle such day to day activities. She may also feel good about developing the personal skills. However, this adjustment may need some time, and it is essential to give the person some time. In a case where the bereaved elderly had been the primary caretaker of a sick spouse, it is seen that the stressful situation was stronger before the death than after it. Thus, it is not proper to always consider a death stressful. The death of a person suffering due to a severe traumatic disease may be a relief factor for the partner. Surely it would bring some emotional pain, but mostly, it would not create a stressful situation. In some cases, the process of bereavement may take a bit longer time and at times it may not have even an end point. Some may have a timeless attachment with the deceased. Some may be at a stage in which they may find the consolidation of their memories as the best option. They may draw sustenance from the memories for the remaining years of their lives (Worden, 2009). It may be possible that all the family members are not willing to come for the counseling sessions. In such a situation, the counselor must try to bring the entire family together for the sessions. It would be easier for the counselor then to assess the problems and work more efficiently. The counselor would be able to get an idea of how the family works as a unit and then give his/her recommendations. It is important that the approach of the counselor is that of a familial system. An assessment of the feelings of all the members of the family would ensure a greater probability of the effectiveness and equilibrium in the mind of the bereaved and the family members as well. To help the bereaved, it is essential that the loss and grief are acknowledged. Continual engagement with the deceased partner may be a source of support for the surviving partner. Hence, it is important not to force a person to stop mourning the loss of the partner. Dreams and memories may be a token of remembrance to the deceased. However, if the bereavement exceeds too much and the person undergoes mental illness, it is imperative that he/she is taken to a therapist so that the suffering is reduced as early as possible. While most people overcome their grief, there are numerous cases where the grief becomes complicated and prolonged. It is essential to ameliorate this hopelessness and make the life of the elderly happy and stress-free. References Almack, K., Smith, T., Moss, B. (2015). 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