Death And Dying Final Essay

Ricardo Urquidi On Death and Dying Final Exam Essay 05/04/09 Essay Grief is a common but complex feeling which experienced by all but yet influenced by so many factors that it can’t be generalized. The method by which people cope and finally resolve their grief, called grief work, is just as varied and immeasurable as grief. There are many components that comprise the way a person is going to cope with grief. Personality, socioeconomic background, ethnic background, the relationship with the person, the type of death of the loved one, The circumstances of the death, the griever’s current health and overall situation of life and more factors influence the way one will progress through grief and reach a resolution. Oddly enough one of the factors that doesn’t have a clear effect on grief work is time. Time elapsed doesn’t necessarily guarantee resolution [1]. While other factors like the closeness of the grieving person to the deceased has a great effect on the strength of bereavement. The closer the two people were the larger the grief. Another very big factor is if the death was expected or not. Anticipated grieving allows for a better chance at achieving resolution. Sudden deaths and/or particularly horrific deaths have usually an augmented response because of the added shock factor. This slows down the whole process because the family first has to surpass the way the death happened and accept the death. These and many, many other aspects can affect an individuals grief work. The time grief work takes cannot be estimated nor hurried. Since it depends on a myriad of components as well as circumstance before and after the death it is a true person to person event that is purely a unique and subjective of an individual.

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Ricardo Urquidi On Death and Dying Final Exam Essay 05/04/09 References: [1] Russac, R.J., Nina S. Steighner, and Angela I. Canto. "GRIEF WORK VERSUS CONTINUING BONDS: A CALL FOR PARADIGM INTEGRATION OR REPLACEMENT?." Death Studies 26.6 (July 2002): 463-478. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 5 May 2009 . Murders in the US

Number of Murders

Number of mureders in the US from 2001 to 2007 17,200 17,000 16,800 16,600 16,400 16,200 16,000 15,800 15,600 15,400

17,030

16,929

16,740 16,528 16,229

16,148

16,037

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Year Top 10 Terms 1) Bereavement- The state of suffering pain 2) Ethnocentrism- characterized by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior 3) Funeral-Ritual used to allow the mourners to initiate grief work and in some cases finalize religious rites for the deceased 4) Genocide-Mass murder of a particular group of people for ethnic, social or political basis 5) Grief-The subjective emotion to reacting to loss that can cause biological, psychological and spiritual changes. 6) Grief Work- The act of coping with loss 7) Palliatative Care- care of ill patients without intention of grief 2

2007

Ricardo Urquidi On Death and Dying Final Exam Essay 05/04/09 8) Object attachment- The different ways that a person can deal with personal attachment to the lost object and can be resolved either by retention, displacement or resolution. 9) Maladaptive grief- Grief that has a negative influence on an individual and can cause physical, psychological and social damage 10) Stages of Grief- Several theories describing the progression people make while resolving their grief.

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