Understanding Death and Bereavement

Understanding Death and Bereavement

It has always been very difficult to adapt oneself to the death of a family member, but the loss of a child is, in general, considered as the most difficult of all deaths and the resulting grief is nearly impossible to reconcile with. In the world we live, the individuals, under normal circumstances or one can say ideally, expects the grandparents to die first, then the parents, followed by the death of self and then the offspring. This is considered a logical sequence through which members of a family depart from this world in a somewhat, 'logical way'. But unfortunately, that what we normally expect does not occur always in the desired sequence or order. This is what happens when a child dies. Under normal circumstances, parents are not prepared to deal with the death of their child.

Yet, in real world, there are numerous incidents where people have to deal with the deaths of their child. Those dying children may be of different age groups. Research shows that parents react differently to the deaths of their children with different ages (Leming & Dickinson, 2011). This paper aims at exploring these concepts of how people reactions of perinatal deaths differ from reactions to other deaths and how do does their feelings about the deaths of older children and adolescents differ from other deaths. The paper also discusses the desired response of healthcare professionals tasked with giving support to bereaved parents, while assessing the impact of spouse's death. The changing nature of the concept of grief is also discussed.

In order to understand the nature of loss and grief involved in the death of a child, one should be aware of the well established fact that relationship between the parents and the child begins long before the child is actually born. From the time the child is conceived, the child certainly becomes the source of joy and fantasy for the couple and they start imagining about their future offspring. This type of phenomenon is very common among the expectant parents all around the world. As the time passes and the pregnancy progresses, the fantasy intensifies and the relationship and the invisible bondage with the imaginary child grow stronger (Leming & Dickinson, 2011).

The parents usually, start by discussing the potential names for their child, followed by the rehearsal of parenting and imaginary affection for the future son or daughter. During the next stage, these fantasies are shared with others and finally the time comes when the child is actually born. When the child does not make it to the world alive and the parents have to face a stillbirth or the sudden death of their child, the bubble of one fantasy suddenly bursts (Leming, & Dickinson, 2011).

Perinatal Death

In one of the prominent research studies concerning the issues related to the perinatal death, the researcher closely observed the reaction of the mother, who had lost a newborn child, and also studied the strength of parental relationship ...