The interface between grief research and practice by Moira O'Connor

The interface between grief research and practice Dr Moira O’Connor WA Centre for Cancer and Palliative Care, WA [email_address]

Map
Brief background to psychological theories
Key assumptions leading to a dominant discourse
Implications
Medicalisation of grief
Implications
Egs

Background
Freud – process to be worked through & relinquishing relationship to the deceased
Fulconer (1942) – stages
Lindeman - acute, needs withdrawal & needing ‘grief work’
Breaking attachment bonds (Bowlby), relocating the deceased & ‘moving on….’(Worden)
Now seen differently but these classic theories remain salient

Key assumptions
Distinct & uniform pattern
Short term and finite
Tasks and work needed
Quasi-linear stages
Finding meaning & positives
Emotional expression necessary for to properly mourn the deceased

Research participants
Classic grief research with participants who were mainly:
North American
White
Middle-class
Female
Middle-aged-elderly widows of men who had a long-term illness

Implications
Dominant discourse & cultural narrative
These hegemonic assumptions are culture-biased & gender-biased and not relevant for many outside this narrow band
Where does this leave people who fall outside this experience?
This dominant discourse pervades professional and lay understandings of grief (media)
There is a lack of questioning
The notion of grief police (Walter)
Recent eg from media ‘The stages of grief and how to get over it’

Negative impact on the bereaved
Service providers may not meet needs of the bereaved – oppressive supports
A focus on forgetting and moving on
Distress and feeling not ‘normal’ – falling outside the ‘norm’
Self policing
Judgements and labelling

Further medicalisation of grief
DSM5 diagnostic category of Prolonged Grief Disorder
Clearly focussed on: intensity, continued attachment, intrusive thoughts, long lasting

Implications
It may be very easy for people to be diagnosed with this ‘disorder’
Potential for all grief to be pathologised
Labelling & stigma
Censure by others
Less likely to seek support if labelled
Supports may become ‘heavier’
Less powerful > likely to be labelled or silenced

Egs
Grief following road traffic crashes in WA
Long-lasting, no detachment, oscillation of emotions, maintain relationships, rarely any positives
People silenced and imposition of the dominant narrative
Relationships change and not always for the better
Superficial understandings of grief by others
Unique
Learning to live with not get over
Majority would meet criteria for prolonged grief disorder
Challenges

Egs
Suicide in Aboriginal communities
40% higher than national average
Community grief – extensive grief
Funerals – importance & implications
Public expression of grief
Rituals such as not naming the deceased
Silenced & minimised

The interface between grief research and practice by Moira O'Connor

by British Sociological Association on Dec 04, 2009

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The interface between grief research and practice by Moira O’Connor — Presentation Transcript

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