People continuously struggle with the extreme sadness and anguish brought on by losing a loved one, particularly via death or other major life events like divorce and job loss. Since everyone’s experience of sorrow is impacted by many things, including personal values, cultural background, familial environment, life events, and ingrained beliefs, there is no one technique to communicate sadness that applies to everyone. Since most societies see discussing death as a taboo subject, some people find it difficult to heal from the trauma of losing a family member or close friend because they have a tendency to internalize the entire experience. People experiencing loss can benefit from grief counselling, a type of therapy that helps them deal with various reactions. People’s spiritual, emotional, physical, and social well-being can be impacted by dealing with a loved one’s death. Withdrawal, sobbing, rage, and feelings of remorse and helplessness are some noticeable symptoms of mourning. When delays in the grieving process leave multiple important issues unaddressed for an extended length of time, grief becomes a therapy concern raising the need to understand the efficacy of grief counselling.
Most people learn to cope with grief naturally, without official intervention. However, the link between grieving and ill physical and mental health is well documented. According to estimates, between 6 and 20 per cent of adults who experience a loss experience complicated mourning symptoms. These symptoms have been described as painful, enduring reactions that affect daily, social, and psychological functioning. There have been reports of a prevalence of between 8% and 30% for difficult grieving in bereaved carers. Palliative care is crucial in assisting caregivers and families of patients with severe sickness, and it advises that their grief needs be identified and met with the proper psychological support. Different forms of assistance that touch on all three of these areas is often provided by palliative care practitioners. For people with more complex needs, there are specialized counselling options, drop-in events and informational evenings, telephone assistance, mutually supportive groups, individual and group counselling, and counselling services. It is vitally crucial that successful psychological therapies are created for those having trouble coping with grief, given the patterns of variation in reactions to a loss experience.
Every person’s culture of birth has some influence on who they become. Grief expression in people is just as culturally influenced as marriage or religious rituals or symbols. Many authors distinguish between sorrow and mourning, claiming that. In contrast, mourning is a set of habitual patterns or behaviours; grief is a subjective state, a collection of sensations that emerge spontaneously after a great loss. Grieving is mostly characterized by sensations, and mourning is primarily characterized by action, thinking, or cognitive meaning is essentially missing from both sadness and mourning. According to studies and expert opinion, the majority of bereaved persons will manage the discomfort of a “typical” mourning reaction without professional assistance, and, eventually, they will start to feel better. Despite this, grieving is linked to several detrimental mental and physical health effects. A higher risk of death, suicidal thoughts, and morbidity are among the physical health effects. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and complex sorrow are all examples of mental health effects that transcend beyond the “typical” bereavement symptoms in terms of duration and intensity. It is important to note that there have been many different labels and definitions of complicated sorrow, and estimates of the frequency and incidence of grieving vary depending on the description and the demographic.
Grief therapy is crucial, especially for those whose frequent sense of loss paralyzes their coping mechanisms. One benefit of grief counselling is that it aids in expressing one’s feelings and the causes of feeling depressed, lonely, and isolated after a loss. Counselling enables a grieving person to actively consider the loss they are going through, potential changes and difficulties that may arise, and practical coping methods they might use. Psychologists contend that those who experience anticipatory grieving must seek grief therapy. This frequently occurs to someone with a loved one who is dealing with a situation like a terminal disease that can quickly result in death. The everyday exposure to a loved one’s suffering and impending death might be too upsetting for certain people, making them particularly susceptible to illnesses like depression. The ability to accept a loss by seeking solace in happy memories is another benefit of grief therapy. In a group environment, persons experiencing a particular form of grief might come together and share their experiences. As a result, participants can acknowledge that their issue is not only personal to them and that others are also experiencing it, which is crucial in fostering a safe space for someone to work through their emotions. When someone seeks counselling, their feelings about a loss are validated. They are also encouraged to continue expressing their grief where it won’t be scrutinized or misinterpreted.
According to psychologists, persuading someone mourning that they may find happiness again is frequently quite gratifying since it lets them know that someone has chosen to embrace optimism. To assist the grieving individual in retaining a connection with the departed person and preserve the dead person’s voice as a resource, the narrative therapy notion of “remembering” can be quite beneficial. The ability to openly discuss the deceased might give a person newfound courage. Counsellors may think about inquiring about the individual’s relationship to the deceased person and what they would think of the client now. This kind of discourse has the power to rekindle a person’s sense of worth and to indicate that recollections of a loved one who has passed away can be useful in the future. Worden (2018) suggests that the counsellor use a problem-solving strategy that focuses on the unique issues the survivor is dealing with and how to address them. Remember that the deceased individual may have played several responsibilities in the lifestyle of the mourning person. Depending on these duties, the bereaved partner may feel quite adrift; thus, assistance with acquiring practical, monetary, or decision-making abilities can occasionally be beneficial.
Conclusion
The need to comprehend the effectiveness of grief counselling arises when delays in the mourning process leave several significant difficulties unattended for a lengthy period. Helping a survivor cope with the death of a loved one and learn to adapt to a new reality without them is the overarching purpose of grief therapy. The functions of grieving have distinct objectives, which are to increase the reality of the loss, assist the victim in coping with the emotional and behavioural anguish, help the victim in overcoming different barriers to readjustment, and assist the victim in finding a means to remember and stay connected to the departed while going ahead to engage in life. Given the variation in responses to a loss experience, effective psychological therapies must be developed for persons experiencing difficulty coping with sorrow. The culture into which each individual is born impacts who they become. People’s ways of expressing their grief are equally as impacted by culture as marriage or religious ceremonies or symbols. Many writers distinguish between grief and mourning, contending that although mourning is a set of traditional rituals or actions, grief is a subjective condition, a collection of experiences that arise spontaneously after a significant loss.
References
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