COMPLICATED GRIEF AND BEREAVEMENT IN YOUNG ADULTS FOLLOWING CLOSE FRIEND AND SIBLING LOSS

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1202-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly B. Herberman Mash ◽  
Carol S. Fullerton ◽  
Robert J. Ursano
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Complicated Grief ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Sibling Loss ◽  
Grief And Bereavement

scholarly journals Attachment and Grief in Young Adults after the Loss of a Close Friend: A Qualitative Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iren Johnsen ◽  
Ane Martine Tømmeraas
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Complicated Grief ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Grief Reactions

Abstract BackgroundAlthough many lose a close friend each year, they are seldom the focus of grief research. However, these losses often cause severe and long-lasting reactions. Deaths among adolescents and young adults are also often caused by traumatic events, e.g. from accidents, suicides, and homicides, placing them at significant risk for complicated grief reactions. The focus of this paper is bereaved friends after the shootings at Utøya, Norway in 2011, which is among a few studies that focus on bereaved friends, exploring how attachment affects the grief process after the loss of a close friend.MethodsThis paper explores qualitative data from in-depth interviews with thirteen bereaved friends, conducted about 28 months after the loss. The interview sample consisted of eight females and five males, aged 18 to 31 years. The interviews were semi-structured, with a theme guide of 14 questions, and the method used for analyses was systematic text condensation. ResultsTwo main themes were identified from the analyses of the interviews: Friendship and Grief, with the subordinate themes: The importance of the friendship, Longing and remembrance, How the loss has affected other relationships, How the loss has affected the friend’s daily lives, Processing of the grief and Not being family. For most of the bereaved friends the loss and the grief had a profound effect on them and their overall lives, from daily functioning in school or at work, to changes in attitudes, and the way they were met as bereaved. ConclusionsThe support, intimacy, and feelings of togetherness we share with our friends are of great importance and value for all people, but maybe especially for young people. When adolescents and young adults experience losses, their reactions are often intense and long-lasting, and especially complicated grief reactions can affect school performance and concentration, health, result in emotional problems; and disrupt development (e.g. identity formation and social skills). We don’t know much about the grief of bereaved friends and how their reactions can be explained. Thus, we hope that these findings could shed light on their grief reactions, and provide new knowledge on the short- and long-term psychological impact of losses of friends.

scholarly journals Attachment and grief in young adults after the loss of a close friend: a qualitative study

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iren Johnsen ◽  
Ane Martine Tømmeraas
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Complicated Grief ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Grief Reactions

Abstract Background Although many lose a close friend each year, they are seldom the focus of grief research. However, these losses often cause severe and long-lasting reactions. Deaths among adolescents and young adults are also often caused by traumatic events, e.g. from accidents, suicides, and homicides, placing them at significant risk for complicated grief reactions. The focus of this paper is bereaved friends after the shootings at Utøya, Norway in 2011, which is among a few studies that focus on bereaved friends, exploring how attachment affects the grief process after the loss of a close friend. Methods This paper explores qualitative data from in-depth interviews with thirteen bereaved friends, conducted about 28 months after the loss. The interview sample consisted of eight females and five males, aged 18–31 years. The interviews were semi-structured, with a theme guide of 14 questions, and the method used for analyses was systematic text condensation. Results Two main themes were identified from the analyses of the interviews: Friendship and Grief, with the subordinate themes: The importance of the friendship, Longing and remembrance, How the loss has affected other relationships, How the loss has affected the friend’s daily lives, Processing of the grief and Not being family. For most of the bereaved friends the loss and the grief had a profound effect on them and their overall lives, from daily functioning in school or at work, to changes in attitudes, and the way they were met as bereaved. Conclusions The support, intimacy, and feelings of togetherness we share with our friends are of great importance and value for all people, but maybe especially for young people. When adolescents and young adults experience losses, their reactions are often intense and long-lasting, and especially complicated grief reactions can affect school performance and concentration, health, result in emotional problems; and disrupt development (e.g. identity formation and social skills). We don’t know much about the grief of bereaved friends and how their reactions can be explained. Thus, we hope that these findings could shed light on their grief reactions, and provide new knowledge on the short- and long-term psychological impact of losses of friends.

“Only a Friend”

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iren Johnsen ◽  
Kari Dyregrov
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Young People ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Daily Experiences ◽  
Depth Interviews

Friendships are very important for human beings, and especially for young people, but few studies have explored the consequences of losing a close friend. To identify and help this often overlooked population of bereaved, we need more knowledge of their bereavement processes. This study is part of a larger longitudinal study which aims to increase awareness of bereaveds’ situation after the killings at Utøya, Norway, July 22, 2011. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 young adults on the experiences of losing their close friend. Themes identified were how circumstances of the event complicate the grieving, the daily experiences of the loss, and recognition of friends as bereaved. Findings show that the loss of a close friend has had a profound effect on the young people, and the loss of a friend is also a distinct loss that is not comparable to other losses.

A Matter of Life and Death: Understanding Continuing Bonds and Post-traumatic Growth When Young Adults Experience the Loss of a Close Friend

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine H. Stein ◽  
Catherine E. Petrowski ◽  
Sabina M. Gonzales ◽  
Gina M. Mattei ◽  
Jessica Hartl Majcher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Continuing Bonds ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Post Traumatic Growth ◽  
Post Traumatic

scholarly journals Complicated Grief and Depression in Young Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 202 (7) ◽  
pp. 539-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly B. Herberman Mash ◽  
Carol S. Fullerton ◽  
M. Katherine Shear ◽  
Robert J. Ursano
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Complicated Grief

Bereavement Outcomes as Causal Systems: A Network Analysis of the Co-Occurrence of Complicated Grief and Posttraumatic Growth

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Bellet ◽  
Payton J. Jones ◽  
Robert A. Neimeyer ◽  
Richard J. McNally
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Posttraumatic Growth ◽  
Complicated Grief ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Causal System ◽  
Identity Disturbance ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Life Path ◽  
Constituent Elements

Bereavement can lead to negative outcomes such as complicated grief (CG), but some mourners with symptoms of CG often experience positive sequelae of loss such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) as well. We propose that grief and growth co-occur and change one another because they alternately reinforce and weaken each other at the level of their respective constituent elements. We investigated the structure of a network of CG and PTG elements to elucidate how grief and growth can co-occur within a potentially causal system in bereaved young adults. Challenges to control and identity disturbance ranked as the most highly central symptoms in the CG network; the discovery of a new life path and greater personal strength were similarly central elements of PTG. Finally, the degree of disruption and change in mourners’ worldviews emerged as the element that most strongly bridged the two domains, suggesting a pivotal connection between grief and growth.

A COMPLICATED GRIEF INTERVENTION PROGRAMME (CGIP) FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-330
Author(s):  
Cornelia Drenth ◽  
Alida Herbst ◽  
Herman Strydom
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
South African ◽  
Complicated Grief ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Intervention Model ◽  
Intervention Programme ◽  
Grief And Bereavement ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Grief Intervention

Grief is a well-described concept in the literature, but complicated grief only recently became the concern of professionals working in this field. The necessity for a complicated grief intervention programme became evident after a fruitless search to find South African literature and interventions on the topic. This article describes the Complicated Grief Intervention Programme (CGIP) with the Complicated Grief Intervention Model (CGIM) as framework for intervention. The focus is on intervention techniques such as desensitisation, visualisation, use of the client-log, miracle questions, metaphors, rituals and humour. The CGIP is a time-limited intervention programme and consists mainly of interventions implemented during the three steps of the CGIM namely, assessment, implementation and evaluation/termination. Although the CGIP has not been widely tested, it holds the potential to serve as a guideline for social workers and other professionals working in the field of grief and bereavement.

Influence of Perceived Preventability of the Death and Emotional Closeness to the Deceased: A Test of Bugen's Model

1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 261-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles A. Guarnaccia ◽  
Bert Hayslip ◽  
Lisa Pinkenburg Landry
Keyword(s):  
Family Member ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
The Past ◽  
Grief And Bereavement ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Funeral Rituals

This study tested Bugen's (1977, 1979) model of human grief with data from 435 adults, ages eighteen to eighty-eight years old, who had attended the funeral of a family member or close friend in the past two years. The model's two factors, Emotional Closeness to the deceased and Perceived Preventability of the death, were strong predictors of grief and bereavement adjustment. To test the robustness of this model, these two factors were then used to predict aspects of the funeral. Emotional Closeness to the deceased, but not Perceived Preventability of the death, provided some prediction of Meaningfulness of the funeral and Participation in the funeral rituals.

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