Larysa Rybyk
Candidate of Psychological Sciences. Head of the International Association of Psychologists for Work with Grief and Bereavement
Keywords: grief theory, bereavement, mourning, grief, loss of a loved one.
The article analyzes the development of the theory of grief, the impact of loss on the human psyche, and behavioral reactions when experiencing a severe loss. Factors affecting the dynamics of loss experience and grief reactions are considered. The evolution of grief theory continues, understanding this process makes it possible to monitor changes in mourning traditions in the socio-cultural space and to apply adequate methods of assistance in practical work.
An explanation of the category of grief is given, which is understood as a subjective state, not static, but dynamic, arising spontaneously as a reaction to loss and characterized by a complex of various feelings and emotions. At the same time, modern world practical psychotherapy of grief departs from linear models and is more oriented towards the dual adaptation model (DPM), within which there is an opinion that the resolution of grief depends on an individual fluctuation between two processes - the process aimed at the sense of loss and the process aimed at recovery.
The presented description of the experience of grief allows us to note the features of the process of experiencing loss by adults, which consists of the phases of numbness, longing, disorganization and despair, and the phase of reorganization. An analysis is also provided of the differences in children's experience of loss, which are that they do not have the shock reaction that adults have, and that adults have a shock reaction that children do not have. Secondly, it is important for adults to understand the loss in order to move on, while the child continues to interact with the deceased as a significant object that affects his mental development. In addition, the study examines grief as a psychological trauma that causes stress disorders, reveals the specifics of reactions to experiencing the loss of a loved one due to suicide.