Reaction to Loss among Young Generation of Tehran’s population: A Qualitative Study

Authors
Mani Rafiee Ardestani
Hosein Eskandari
Ahmad Borjali
Noorali Farrokhi
allameh tabataba'i university
10.52547/rph.12.3.66
Abstract
The loss reaction includes variety of the responses such as the bodily, emotional, existential and cognitive reactions. The strength of these responses can vary from the weak transitory emotional reactions to the lifelong strong ones, which can change the life story of the individuals. In this study, the qualitative data gathering on focus groups, the semi-structured interview about the loss experiences, and the life story interview by Mc Adams approach were applied on 21 participants. The phenomenological analysis of the manuscripts of the interviews used to investigate individual’s responses to the loss. Results showed three major clusters that include context of the loss, nature of the loss and the experimenter’s characteristics. In context of the loss, time and the sociocultural background of the loss experience is major themes. Another kinds of thems consisted of nature of the loss cluster includes its type, the obligatory versus the optional loss, and the predictable versus unpredictable loss. Finally, the participant’s characteristics included the life experiences, personality, and knowledge level of participants. Results shows the interactive effect of objective living world which the loss happens as an incident in it and the sobjective living world of the individual who experiences the loss.
Keywords
Phenomenology
reactions to Loss
grief
young adults
lived experience
1. Archer J. The nature of grief: The evolution and psychology of reactions to loss. Routledge; 2013.
2. Bowlby J. Attachment and loss: Vol. 3: Loss: Sadness and depression. London: Hogarth. 1980.
3. Lucas R E, Clark A E, Georgellis Y, Diener E. Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: reactions to changes in marital status. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003; 84: 527–539.
4. Ghavami-Lahiji H, Hajloo N. Comparison of early parental death, ADHD, and precarious employment among adults with and without history of suicide attempt. Journal of Research in Psychological Health. 2018; 12 (1) :13-23. [Persian].
5. Burke L A, Neimeyer R A.11 Prospective risk factors for complicated grief. Complicated grief: Scientific foundations for health care professionals. 2013.
6. Wijngaards-de M L, Stroebe M, Schut H, Stroebe W, van den Bout J, Heijden P G M, et al. Couples at risk following the death of their child: Predictors of grief versus depression. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2005; 73: 617–623.
7. Prigerson H, Ahmed I, Silverman G K, Saxena A K, Maciejewski P K, et al. Rates of risks of complicated grief among psychiatric clinic patients in Karachi, Pakistan. Death Stud. 2002; 26: 781–792.
8. Momartin S, Silove D, Manicavasagar V, Steel Z. Complicated grief in Bosnian refugees. Compr Psychiatry. 2004; 45: 475–482.
9. Lang A, Gottlieb L. Parental grief reactions and marital intimacy following infant death. Death Stud.1993; 17: 233-255.
10. Goldsmith B, Morrison R S, Vanderwerker L C, Prigerson H. Elevated rates of prolonged grief disorder in African Americans. Death Stud. 2008; 32: 352–365.
11. Neimeyer R A, Baldwin S A, Gillies J. Continuing bonds and reconstructing meaning: Mitigating complications in bereavement. Death Stud. 2006; 30: 715–738.
12. Bonanno G A, Papa A, Lalande K, Zhang N, & Noll J G. Grief processing and deliberate grief avoidance: A prospective comparison of bereaved spouses and parents in the United States and the People’s Republic of China. J Consult Clin Psychol.2005; 73(1): 86–98.
13. Cleiren M. Bereavement and adaptation: A comparative study of the aftermath of death. Washington DC: Hemisphere. 1993.
14. Feigelman W, Jordan J R, Gorman B S. How they died, time since loss and bereavement outcomes. Omega (Westport). 2009; 58: 251–273.
15. Callahan J. Predictors and correlates of bereavement in suicide support group participants. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2000; 30: 104–124.
16. Boelen P A, van den Bout J & van den Hout M A. The role of negative interpretations of grief reactions in emotional problems after bereavement. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2003; 34: 225-238.
17. Houwen K V D, Stroebe M, Stroebe W, Schut H, Bout J V D, Meij L W D. Risk factors for bereavement outcome: A multivariate approach. Death Stud. 2010; 34(3): 195-220.
18. Wijngaards-de M L, Stroebe M, Schut H, Stroebe W, van den Bout J, Heijden P G M. Neuroticism and attachment insecurity as predictors of bereavement outcome. J Res Pers. 2007; 41: 498–505.
19. Coleman R A, Neimeyer R A. Measuring meaning: Searching for and making sense of spousal loss in later life. Death Stud. 2010; 34: 804–834.
20. Vanderwerker L C, Prigerson H G. Social support and technological connectedness as protective factors in bereavement. J Loss Trauma. 2004; 9: 45–57.
21. Gamino L A, Sewell K W, Easterling L W. Scott & White grief study 2: Toward an adaptive model of grief. Death Stud. 2000; 24: 633–660.
22. McCarthy J. Young People's experiences of Loss and bereavement: Towards An Interdisciplinary Approach: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). 2006.
23. Baddeley J, Singer J A. A loss in the family: Silence, memory, and narrative identity after bereavement. Memory. 2010; 18(2):198-207.
24. McAdams D P. The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. Guilford Press. 1993.
25. Kersting A, Kroker K, Steinhard J, Ludorff K, Wesselmann U, ohrmann P. Complicated grief after traumatic loss: A 14-month follow-up study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2007; 257: 437–443.
26. Rando T A. Grief, dying, and death: Clinical investigations for caregivers. Champaign, IL: Research Press Company. 1986.
27. Rando T A. Loss and anticipatory grief. Lexington Books. 1986.
28. Milbury K, Lopez G, Eto O, Weathers S P, Mulligan C, Cohen L. Anticipatory grief and psychological adjustment in couples coping with a poor prognosis cancer. ‎Psycho-Oncol. 2017; 26: 15-16.
29. Van J. Psychoeducational workshop on anticipatory grief in adolescents over a parent or primary caregiver and possible treatments/interventions (Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Northridge). 2014.