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Question: Narrative, Culture, and Grieving
We are very aware of our own belief systems and may feel a need to defend them throughout the process of grieving. Randall's work (Vilhauer, Randall, and McKim, 2012) exemplified the purpose of using the narrative for understanding the living and grieving aspects of the older individual. Moving beyond just the biopsychosocial focus to the field of narrative gerontology, we are exposed to a new dimension of understanding aging. 

    What type of attitude, belief, or practice that is typical of your cultural background might challenge someone from another culture that would support you?
    On the professional side, how would you incorporate narratives, cultural experiences and general information from an individual's past to support understanding the resulting biological, psychological and sociological responses to loss and grief for those in Case Study: Guilt, Grief, and Bereavement, from this unit's studies.
    Consider how narrative would be beneficial in supporting someone in the scenario related to the loss. 

( you must use at least 2 references from the readings to support your answer)
please let me know if you need any additional information to complete this assignment


unit reading: Grief and Loss
Introduction
Familiarity with Kubler-Ross and Kessler's (2014) work on grieving and additional contemporary authors like Alexandria Kennedy (2014) provide guidelines for supporting common experiences and concretizing them enough to identify them and feel typical in experiencing the process of grieving after loss. Kennedy's work focuses on seven tasks useful in dealing with grief that enhance the empowerment of the individual in the process instead of allowing the individual to feel victimized by the process. Her Seven Tasks of Grieving (2016) present us with a more active type of grieving than Kubler-Ross identified in her work, initially. As the understanding of grief has evolved, we recognize the complexity of the process as more than just dealing with an issue. It incorporates relationships, expectations, cultural foundations, spiritual belief systems and self-knowledge as well. Thus, contemporary theorists are more apt to include an active participation in the process as opposed to just understanding the stages one may pass through in the process. We would also expect that the identification of need is more specific and enables us to deal with circumstances surrounding grief in a more comprehensive manner. Worden (Smit, 2015) also proposed a four phased model that recognizes the cyclical nature of grief, unlike Kubler-Ross' model. Many of these types of grieving can be found compactly presented by Smit who presents an informative, brief  article of the historical development of understanding grief and the process of grieving.


What is grief? What is bereavement? Grieving is generally the method used to mourn a loss such as the loss of a significant figure or a job, a pet or health and deterioration of the body. The time of mourning that occurs after the loss of something important may be influenced by culture, spirituality, the age of the passing individual, the circumstances of the individual's passing, etc., and constitutes bereavement. We may be more familiar with bereavement as it is how the mourning and grieving appear. For those from different cultures, this can seem odd and unfounded but when we delve into the cultural expressions and the expectations of society, we may find bereavement that is long or expressed differently, perfectly natural. On the professional side, how would you incorporate narratives, cultural experiences and general information from an individual's past to understand the resulting biological, psychological and sociological responses to suffering loss and grieving? Consider this as you move through the unit and relate your own losses to the expectations you had for others' responses and the responses you have given when experiencing someone's bereavement or grieving rituals.
Plastic letters, spelling out L-o-s-s. © istockphoto.com Quote: 'People fear it due to ego, Not wanting to lose self, Not wanting to lose connections, This is very ironic since in death: we connect to the whole. We dive back into every expression of what we are.'

Check out the DSM-5 and their multiple explanations of the types of grief. The ICD-10 provides the incorporation of grief as a symptom in many classified disorders. Consider this also as you move through this unit and how these criteria can impact the understanding of support and family comprehension of grieving and bereavement.