“You are Weeping for That Which Has Been Your Delight”: To Experience and Recover from Grief

Abstract

To explore how people experience grief and what factors are perceived as facilitating successful grief work, a survey was distributed to people who had completed a grief recovery course. The results showed that emotions, cognitions, physical expressions, and behaviors all characterize grief, but that emotions are the most central component. The course brought relief and was regarded most favorably by those having at least 1 year between the grief trigger event and participation in the course. Writing a letter in which course participants express their feelings to the loss object was perceived as the most successful aspect of the course. The letter might help with grief recovery by bringing aspects that have not been dealt with into conscious awareness.

Creative Counseling Strategies for Adolescents Working Through Grief

“…The use of creativity can be a tool for counselors to use to help mitigate at-risk behaviors, academic issues, and mental health disorders that adolescents may face when coping with the death of a loved one. Creative strategies were found to help grieving adolescents cope with the loss of a loved one and reduce mental health disorders that can stem from grief due to the death of a loved one (Edgar-Bailey & Kress, 2010; Ihrmark et al, 2012; Lander & Graham-Pole, 2009; Muselman & Wiggins, 2012; Wiggins, 2011). As counselors seeking healthy ways to simultaneously guide adolescents through a bereavement experience and this crucial stage of adolescent development, creative techniques afford adolescent clients an opportunity for meaning-making and reconstructing identity in the face of a loved one's death (Beaumont, 2013; Hedtke, 2014; May, 2005; Riley, 2001).…”

Worden’s Task-Based Model for Treating Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder During the Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

“…Notice that grief counseling needs to follow a theoretical insight into human behavior and personality, not only according to mere settings of techniques [25]. In this regard, some techniques such as evocative language (using tough words to evocate the survivor's feelings like using the term "your son died" instead of "you lost your son"), use of symbols (using pictures or the belongings of the deceased), writing (writing a letter to the deceased and expressing the feelings and thoughts by the survivor), drawing (painting pictures reflecting the sentiments of an individual as well as what he/she experienced with the deceased), role-playing (helping the survivor to role-play various situations he/she fears), cognitive restructuring (particularly concerning covert thoughts and self-talk), memory books (creating a memory book for the deceased), directed imagery (helping the survivor visualize the deceased in an empty chair with closed eyes; then provoking the survivor to talk about what he/she needs to say to the deceased), and metaphors (a more acceptable symbolic representation of grief such as phantom pain and amputation related to the former image of loss) could provide an efficient grief counseling [25], [44], [45]. However, the aim of grief therapy is different from that of grief counseling to some extent [25].…”

The Rhetoric of Shared Grief: An Analysis of Letters to the Family of Michael Brown

“…Literature suggests that letter writing by the grief-stricken may help to eulogize their loved ones and cope with their loss (Carrington & Bogetz, 2004; Ihrmark, Hansen, Eklund, & Stodberg, 2011). Some report that writing letters can be useful for expressing feelings of grief, indicating that writing letters might “help with grief recovery by bringing aspects that have not been dealt with into conscious awareness” (Ihrmark et al, 2011, p. 223). Creating a narrative from a tragic event can aid the healing process.…”