Dealing with the Death of a Family Member - 1231 Words

The death of a family member can greatly affect the family system as it creates a void that is difficult to adjust to. The family experiences a terrible sense of loss, as well as a fear that they have to carry on with their lives without their loved one (Rotter, 2000). They have a hard time picturing there knew life and moving on without them. With the family system changing it may destroy the relationships that already exists in the family (Bowlby-West, 1983). After the death of a family member the most difficult time for the family would be the anniversaries. These anniversaries include the anniversary of the day that the family member died, their birthday as well as special holidays. These dates are stressful for the family and will be a reminder of the death (Bowlby-West, 1983). The grief process that the family system will go through after the death of a family member may last a long time, especially as they go through the different anniversary’s. Non-normative events, s uch as a child’s death by suicide, and accidental death may also make the grief process more difficult (Rotter, 2000). According to Bowlby (1979) and Parkes (1972) there are four stages of grief that people will go through during the grief period after the death of a family member (Bowlby-West, 1983). The first phase is a phase of numbness that lasts from a few hours to a week. They may experience anger and distress as well. They would find it difficult to cope with tasks because they are preoccupiedShow MoreRelatedDeath s Life Span By Robert Feldman1312 Words   |  6 PagesDeath is something that everyone has to eventually face it one day. The conception of death changes across the life span, as it is mention in the book â€Å"Discovering the life span† by Robert Feldman. Defining death is a complex process, which is determining at which point does the life ends. There are different stages of death such as functional death, brain death, infant and childhood deaths, and death in adolescence, death in young adulthood, death in middle adulthood and death in late adulthoodRead MoreTerminal Illness : Finding Acceptance And Closure1078 Words   |  5 Pagesterminal illness and death, and it takes the support of family and friends to help overcome many of the feelings that can occur before, during, and after a diagnosis. It is often difficult to understand how to cope with the feelings associated with losing people that you love and care about and watching other people that are affected suffer emotionally along with the ailing family member or friends. Emotional challenges are faced regarding what can be done to help the patient, family, and friends handleRead MoreEssay on The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver919 Words   |  4 Pagescoping mechanisms. In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, By Barbara Kingsolver, each member of the Price family deals with a personal guilt either gained while on their mission in the Congo or long before. This nove l exemplifies the different types of guilt the Price family experienced throughout their stay in the Congo, and shows various means of reconciliation and forgiveness as the guilt is absolved. One method of dealing with guilt is to saturate one’s self in it. Leah Price, the stronger of the twinsRead MoreAnalysis Of Mid-Term Break1049 Words   |  5 PagesHeaney wrote the poem Mid-Term Break after the death of his brother who died after a car ran over him. A majority of the author’s poems, including Mid-term Break, start with a memory. Although the deceased was a young boy, the poem presents the funeral sensitively. The title contrasts the actual message in the poem because it gives one a perception that the poem could be about a vacation. 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In particular, I wanted to look at families whose loss was contributed to suicide or a drug related death. The CDC also states, with approximately 4600 adolescent suicides each year in the United States, it is the third leading cause of death for that age range. Drug Overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2010,Read MoreFamily Life Cycle Position Paper887 Words   |  4 PagesThe Family Life Cycle Winston-Salem State University The dynamics of the â€Å"Family Life Cycle† are forever changing due to environmental factors around us. We live in a country that has legalized same sex marriages and the media glorifies a dysfunctional government. So this leads us to the â€Å"Nature vs. Nurture† debate. The â€Å"Nature vs. Nurture† dispute has been around for years. The issue is trying to determine which factors have the greatest influence on human behavior. Environmental factorsRead MoreThe Story Of Survivors By Kim Adonizio1332 Words   |  6 PagesThe story of â€Å"Survivors†; written by Kim Adonizio tells a perspective of a homosexual man who ponders the issues of dealing with his dying lover’s family, while having to fight with societal pressures alone. They both have contracted the AID’s virus and he has a possibility of dying first. The irony in this story is that this young man wants to die first. He finds that dealing with the societal pressures of homosexuality is too much in a world that is much less accepting of the LGBT communityRead MoreThe Ballad Of Birmingham, By Duley Randall1139 Words   |  5 PagesMany poems deal with the harsh realities of the death of a loved one and how those affected begin to heal as they work through the process of grieving. The Ballad of Birmingham, Eating Alone and Eating Together all portray individuals dealing with a devastating loss in their life, and the authors use their personal life experiences and views, incorporating them their writings. In The Ballad of Birmingham the author, Duley Randall, works to convey a tragic scene of loss. The event that RandallRead MoreThe Development Of Elderly Patients1495 Words   |  6 Pagespatients in the best way possible. The theory explains that the goal isn’t to optimize treatment but to soothe any distressing symptoms that the patient may be feeling and to use comfort measures to enhance quality of life and achieve a peaceful death (Hodo, A., Buller, L., 2012). The peaceful end of life theory’s focus is not on dying itself, but on making the patients final days meaningful and exploring the complexities that are involved with taking care of a terminally ill patient. EXPLANATION