Losing a Loved One: Understanding and Addressing Grief

Introduction

For social workers, situations dealing with death could be argued to be the most difficult, especially as it involves witnessing the suffering and grief of losing a loved one. Regardless of self-awareness, self-care, and support, witnessing such suffering on a regular basis can be overwhelming to a social worker.

Varied Coping Strategies and Individual Needs

With every type of loss, one characteristic is fairly constant—every loss is accompanied by a grief response of some intensity. However, we may question whether and how professionals can be effective when faced with the suffering of a person who has experienced a significant loss by death.

The loved one cannot be brought back, so how can we help a bereaved person adapt to the loss and move forward? This is a bigger challenge as suffering and grief vary between people. Another implication for social work practice is the need for effective supervision. People facing the death of a loved one often require a significant amount of support and time, and this may also vary. Because grief varies, coping strategies used will also vary between individuals. A lack of proper training makes dealing with such situations very hard and could also affect the social worker. For individuals to move forward, they must engage in and meet the challenges brought about by loss and grief.

Psychologist J. William Worden is credited with identifying four major tasks that must occur when adapting to the loss of a loved one. These include acknowledging the reality of the loss, working through the pain and emotional turmoil that follows the loss, finding a way to live meaningfully in a world without the one who is gone, and continuing, but loosening, the bonds to the deceased while embarking on a new life (Worden, 2009). Each of these tasks provides an opportunity for assistance in the management of grief and the amelioration of suffering. Societal norms also impact how practitioners deal with the death of a client and have deep roots in belief systems, such as believing that if death is not talked about, then there is no need to process the feelings that accompany it (Zilberfein, 1999).

Conclusion

Zilberfein (1999) states that it is important not to fall into this perception and that there is an absolute need to discuss the topic of death and dying in order to deal with the feelings that accompany it. The stigma that a practitioner experiences is another macro-level issue that is described in the literature as there is this belief system that because suicide is preventable, it should not happen. This stigma may lead practitioners to feel they have failed in some way as a clinician and turns into self-blame

References

1. Harper, B. (1994). Death: The coping mechanism of the health professional (2nd ed.). Greenville, SC: Southeastern University Press.
2. Lindemann, E. (1944). The symptomatology and management of acute grief. American Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 141-148.
3. Zilberfein, F. (1999). Coping with death: Anticipatory grief and bereavement.

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