What are the Key Ethical Issues in Grief Therapy? What makes them so Challenging?
Research conducted on grief shows that some ideas presented are similar to those of grief therapy. For instance, Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe, & Schut (2011) posed that any ethical clinician should follow several basic morals to enable them to achieve ethical standards, which are inspirational. Some of the basic morals, which Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2011) suggested include the following.
First, an ethical clinician should give his or her clients a chance to make their own individualized decisions without influencing them in any manner and helping clients to achieve self-awareness. Second, an ethical clinician should avoid any action that may jeopardize the client in any way and ensure that the interest of the client is put forward all the time. Third, to achieve ethical standards as a clinician one ought to ensure that fairness, trust, honesty, and a good relationship exists between the practitioner and the client.
On the other hand, the American Psychological Association (2002), Code 2.03 stated categorically that any clinician should ensure that he or she keeps abreast with any form of new knowledge regarding techniques of research in grief therapy. This ensures that clinicians are well educated in their respective fields of study thereby enhancing the quality of services, which they render to their clients.
In addition to this, the American Psychological Association (2002), Code 10.09 stipulated that in the event of an employment or a contract-based relationship, psychologists should ensure resolution of responsibility for the client or patient upon the termination of the employment or contract-based relationship. This should comply with appropriate and orderly procedures. The psychologist should always take into consideration the wellbeing of his or her client.
Similarly, Code 2.01 specified that all clinicians should handle tasks by their competencies. Therefore, if a clinician encounters major difficulties while handling a client suffering from grief, he or she should refer the client to another clinician or psychologist to assist the client. In addition to this, Code 2.03 stipulates that clinicians and psychologists should conduct continuous research and study in their fields of specialization to address any new scenario that might present itself in the course of discharging their duties.
Even though I am an ardent follower of the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics, I am also eager to identify some of the outstanding differences that exist between the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics and the Psychologists Code of Ethics. For instance, Code 2.01 of the American Psychological Association (2002) emphasizes the referral of clients whenever a need arises.
Compare and Contrast How Children and Adolescents Grieve. How Would you Adapt Your Interventions Based on Developmental Levels and Age?
Compare Similarities
According to Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001), children, as well as, adolescents undergo three distinct developmental stages. These developmental stages include, early, middle, and late stages of development. Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001) further stated that in the event of death and loss, several children and adolescents undergo several challenges. For instance, children, as well as, adolescents often face the challenge of building trust, having self-control, developing a paradigm shift and a majority of them struggle with low self-esteem.
However, according to Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001), it is interesting to note that despite the difficulties that children and adolescents face, their resilience towards handling death and loss is higher compared to another category of people. In most cases, children and adolescents often emerge emotionally mature and strong as compared to other people going through similar grief. For example, an adolescent who has lost a parent will mature faster because such an experience enables him or her to realize that they should mature up and face the realities of life.
Unfortunately, an experience of grief and loss may at times affect the development of an adolescent negatively. In some instances, grief and loss result in retarded growth in adolescents and children. However, most children and adolescents cope with grief and loss more easily because a number of them use different techniques to address the issue, thereby enabling them to recover easily as compared to adults.
Differences
According to Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001), children do not fully understand the meaning of death. Most children are naïve of the fact that death is a permanent stage in a person’s life, therefore they live with the optimism that the dead person will come back to life. However, this is different in adults who have gained full knowledge about the meaning of death. The fact that adults are aware that death is an irreversible stage makes it more difficult for them to overcome grief especially the loss of a loved one.
Similarly, children often express their feelings about any given state or incident. Most of them inquire about what has happened and express their emotions concerning the incident. On the other hand, adults often hide their emotions and feelings to emerge emotionally strong and mature. However, in most cases, a number of them end up in a state of denial, which prolongs grief. On the contrary, adults always encourage adolescents to share their feelings about loss and death despite their unwillingness to do so.
Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001) further stated that several children believe that they are the cause of death, while adolescents on the other hand develop guilt within them. According to Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001), children adopt denial techniques when dealing with grief and loss. However, adolescents rarely go into denial.
Interventions
Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001) stated that children express their feelings and emotions through diagrams and coloring. For instance, to assist a child to cope with grief, I would employ the use of play therapy or sandbox trays. These tools will enable me to get information about the child’s feelings and assist him or her appropriately. Currently, I am working with adolescents to enable them to overcome grief. One of the most successful ways of assisting adolescents is to make use of creativity.
Several adolescents find it difficult to share their emotions and feelings; therefore, I always create an open environment that enables them to open up easily without having feelings of victimization. To achieve this, I often have to create a good rapport with them to build trust. According to Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001), psychologists and clinicians should use various techniques such as support groups and art therapy to enable adolescents to overcome grief. For instance, adolescents can overcome grief easily when put together in support groups, which enable them to share their emotions. Similarly, support groups enable adolescents to have a sense of belonging that hinders feelings of victimization.
Compare and Contrast the Differences Between Grief when a Child and an Elderly Person Dies
According to Rando (1984), there are some important features between a child and a parent. Some of the features include the parental role, which shapes a child’s self-image, and the self-image of the parent. Most parents are highly attached to their children. In most instances, human beings regard their children as an extension of themself. Therefore, parents invest a considerable amount of emotions psychologically, as well as, physiologically into their children.
As a result, the bond that emerges between a parent and a child tends to be stronger and immense. Consequently, when a parent loses a child he or she will suffer from intense grief because of the strong bond that exists between the two. Rando (1984) further stated that some parents who lose their children in whichever circumstance would often have feelings of abandonment, isolation, and stigmatization. As a result, parents develop guilt feelings.
Schoen, Burgoyne, and Schoen (2004) emphasize this fact by stating that parents who lose their children always feel that they are being punished for a given sin. Similarly, a child who has lost a parent may also have guilt feelings whereby some children tend to blame themselves for the death of their parent. These scenarios vividly show the nature of the bond that exists between a parent and a child.
Differences between Grief When a Child and an Elderly Person Dies
Intense grief also occurs in a situation where a person has lost a spouse. The intense grief is attributed to the psychological attachment between partners. However, a person who has lost a spouse may overcome grief more easily as compared to the one who has lost a child. This is because adults expect their fellow adults to die as opposed to the thought that children should outlive their parents. Most parents find it difficult to accept the death of their children because a majority of them believe that their children should live longer than they should.
Compare and Contrast At least Two Perspectives on Grief. Compare and Contrast One of the following Pairs: Evolutionary versus Interpersonal Perspectives
Evolutionary Perspective
The evolutionary perspective as explained by Stroebe, Hannon, Stroebe, & Schut (2001) states that the ability of an organism to adapt to a particular environment depends on the impact of a particular event that occurs in the environment of an organism. An occurrence of death leads to grief, which in most cases affects an organism (person) negatively, thereby affecting the ability of an organism (person) to adapt to its environment. For instance, grief results in stress, depression, loneliness, and increased use of drug substances that lead to poor health. Similarly, the intensity of grief on the bereaved may also result in psychological problems, which lowers a person’s immunity. Therefore, to overcome grief and effectively adapt to the environment, a bereaved person must seek support from others. However, lack of support may result in intense feelings of sadness and emptiness.
Interpersonal Perspective
According to the interpersonal perspective, grief results from the ability of an individual to control his or her emotions, thereby resulting in intense emotions, which may affect a person’s self-worth and self-control. Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001) stated that researchers of psychoanalysis consider grief to be a consequence of an individual’s ability to handle his emotions hence forcing a person to reorganize his intuitive configuration.
According to Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001), the creation of healthy relationships enables us to mature emotionally and to enhance our self-identity. In addition to this, the nature of the relationship that we build with our parents largely determines future relationships. Consequently, our relationships will determine how we respond to grief. Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001) further argued that most people detach from their world to avoid pain when they experience intense emotions, which are beyond their control.
Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut (2001) explained that adults undergo regression especially in the event of losing a close relative or friend. According to some researchers, grief is one of how people respond to stress. However, the researchers explain that grief is a negative way of responding to stress (Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe & Schut, 2001). The interpersonal perspective proposes the use of therapeutic relationships to assist a bereaved person. Some of the issues that should be put into consideration include patterns of present relationships, their origins, and projection. Additionally, death can result in feelings of insecurity hence leading to withdrawal from other people.
Describe the Grieving Process and What Helps a Person Emerge from Grief Healthily
People grieve in different ways. According to my orientation, a bereaved person can easily overcome grief in case he or she receives support. There are several ways of supporting a person who is grieving. For example, such a person can undergo counseling sessions as an individual or through a support group. Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe, & Schut (2001) explained that people adapt differently to stressful situations and it is important to distinguish problem-focused and emotion-focused ways of adaptive techniques.
Individuals should strike a balance between the two styles of coping with grief. Furthermore, a particular coping style may work for a given person but fails to work for someone else. For instance, some people find it beneficial to talk or write about the loss. However, some people may find it quite challenging to share their emotions either verbally or through writing because of several reasons such as the circumstances that led to the death of a loved one. Therefore, psychologists, as well as, clinicians should conduct further research about grief to create awareness and to establish the real impact of grief.
For an individual to emerge healthily from grief, he or she has to take personal responsibility. Some factors influence how an individual can cope with grief. Some of the factors include culture, personality, religion, and the nature of the relationship with the deceased. Individuals who practice religions that teach about death may find it easier to overcome grief compared to people without any exposure to issues relating to death.
Similarly, introverts may take a longer time to cope with grief as opposed to extroverts who usually express their emotions hence recovering faster from grief. I maintain emotional attachments with my loved ones who have passed on. However, I would propose to my clients to make a personal decision based on the nature of the relationship that existed between them and the deceased.