DEATH AND DYING

ABSTRACT

The death of a family member may be the most traumatic of all human experiences . It generally entails a lot of emotional , social psychological , financial and spiritual adjustments . While it is very hard to generalize people 's different reactions to the death of family member negative feelings of sorrow , guilt , anger , loneliness hopelessness and depression are generally present in this sad occasion Death related issues can lead to varying dramatic changes within the family framework . Grief counseling is usually employed to help the grieving families go through bereavement processes or

to accept impending death . However , grief counseling is a complicated and challenging job since so many issues needs to be addressed in to recommend appropriate solutions . It must be noted however , that only properly identified risks persons and persons suffering from complicated pathological grief reactions need grief counseling

GENERAL ASPECT OF GRIEF COUNSELING

Professional grief counselors such as psychologists , psychiatrist and psychotherapists are usually called upon to intervene when a grieving person finds it too difficult to make necessary adjustments in response to his grief or when his grief threatens his physical and mental health Naturally when such condition arise systemic and well-tested clinical approaches is needed to properly address the problem . Grief counselors conduct counseling in a reasonable time frame which may be dictated by the length of the bereavement process

1 . Denial usually characterized by disbelief and shock , the person refuse to recognize that death had actually occurred or that there is an impending death to be anticipated

2 . Anger the person now began to recognize that indeed a loved had died or is going to die and his initial response may be anger towards other family members , doctors , God or even to the dead person

3 . Depression the reality of death finally sinks in and the person may tend to withdraw as feelings of loneliness and hopelessness envelops him

4 . Acceptance the desired end of the grieving process where the person had come to the point of surrendering to the idea that a loved had is gone for good or is going to die and he starts to enjoy life again Clements 2004

The main goal of grief counselors is neither to stop any person from going through the first three stages of bereavement nor to suppress any negative feelings but to help a grieving person develop adaptive coping and functional grief responses during the bereavement process . Grief counselors must fully understand that a grieving person is going through an emotional roller coaster ride so he needs to remove any unnecessary suffering brought about by such condition . Special attention must be given to secondary preventive intervention groups (aimed at high risk groups ) and tertiary preventive intervention (aimed at those suffering from complicated or pathological grief reactions . Robert Niemeyer perfectly describe a grief counselor as a fellow traveler [with the bereaved] rather than consultant , sharing the uncertainties of the journey , and walking alongside , rather than leading the grieving individual along the unpredictable road toward a new...