Case study
The case study provided by Broderick and Blewitt (2019) is about Isabelle and Victor, who lived together as a family for 53 years in America. They had four children together: Paul, Sophia, and twins Lenore and Joseph, 51, 49, and 45, respectively. Victor worked as a forklift operator to make a living for their household, while Isabelle was a stay-at-home mum when their kids were young. Isabelle returned to her sales clerk job when the twins entered high school.
She loved socializing and making friends in her workplace, although she also enjoyed her mothering full-time work. During this time, Paul, the elder son, had a wife, and they operated a small restaurant in their nearby suburb. Sophia was married with two children, and she was a teacher. Joseph worked as a salesperson and was not married but stayed with his partner Joanne in another state. Lenore had recently remarried after divorcing, and she lived with her second husband and three of her kids in the town.
Victor was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after many years of vibrant health. The family head had been in and out of the hospital since his well-being demanded close to the doctor’s attention. The wife, Isabelle, tried to nurse him with her best effort, although it was difficult. Victor required constant care due to his treatment’s side effects. The entire family tried to assist, but Paul had a tremendous burden since he was the eldest and, thus, perceived to be the most responsible.
Victor’s illness worsened, and Isabelle requested their children to stop extraordinary measures from being applied to keep their father alive. However, Victor’s elder brother, their family physician, and Joseph disagreed with Isabelle’s plan because they believed every effort could save Victor’s life. Eventually, Victor died due to breathing trouble after Isabelle had declined the physician’s offer to insert a ventilator. Many of the family members believed that their father suffered and died unnecessarily.
Isabelle lived alone as she grieved the loss of her spouse. She could not continue staying. alone until she seriously contemplated asking Paul to allow her to move in with them. The lamentation process made Isabelle quit her job because of her low concentration. She worked in a store department; hence, she could not perform to the company’s satisfaction. She went through sleepless nights due to memories returning to her mind about Victor’s illness.
The relationship between family members was strained. The daughters never spoke to Joseph and Joanne due to their father’s illness care disagreements. Joanne wanted Joseph to concentrate on their life together by forgetting their divergences. Lenore avoided conversation with their mother since she feared their talk would bring more trouble and, therefore, used her full-time motherhood as an excuse for not calling her. Sophia was uncomfortable listening to their mother’s nostalgia. Paul was overwhelmed by the family and his business; he felt their mother needed his help to feel better. Isabelle became more afraid that her life had ended and knew she would die lonely like other widows in their neighborhood.
Presenting Challenges
In this case, it is vital to understand that every family member was grieving the death of one of their loved ones. Isabelle was mourning most because they had lived with her husband for 53 years, meaning they had a strong bond. The children were mourning their deceased dad with Paul, the oldest son, who seemed to carry the weight of the household. Paul needed to be stable emotionally, but the situation was not allowing it since it looked like the pressure was cracking on him. Joseph was hurting since he went against their father’s decision to save his life. Joseph was experiencing his pain with no support from the family or potential partner Joanne.
Lenore seemed to avoid anything that would remind him of his father’s death. Isabelle was calling out to her kids to support her. The children were letting their feelings control them from helping their mother. It was a tough time for the entire family, and no one was on good terms with another. Although Sophia tried to make some efforts to help Isabelle through the grieving process, her energy was tainted by what she felt.
Lifespan Theory
The mourning process in the culture demonstrated in this case study seems diverse. Isabelle’s way of grieving supports collectivism and familism in Italian culture, different from how her children do it (DiCello et al., 2018). Isabelle advocated for togetherness to help them celebrate their father’s life as a family. The concept that helps in understanding the sorrow process is Bowlby’s grief theory. It suggests the stages involved when one loses their beloved via death.
They undergo shock, objection, desolation, and reorganization processes (Broderick & Blewitt, 2019). However, other theorists, including Sigmund Freud (2020), view the grieving process contrarily with the idea that everyone should detach themselves from the dead person and withdraw their emotional bond. In this case study, everyone was an adult and had time to prepare for Victor’s death because his illness was prolonged, and he was not getting any better despite the severe treatment.
The family members, including Isabelle, were not shocked and did not protest their beloved’s death. Isabelle had even given up and despaired since she did not see any progress regarding Victor’s health (Broderick & Blewitt, 2019). Isabelle demonstrated her despair by having sleepless nights, less socialization, and emotional upset (van der Horst et al., 2019). She even quit her job to meditate on her husband’s demise.
The culture seems to be Italian-American, whereby they tend to keep their dead with them (DiCello et al., 2018). The essential part of life for Italians is the family. They like spending most of their time together, especially during sorrows and joyous moments. Sharing with other family members is a staple culture of the Italians, and this is what Isabelle was looking for from her children when they lost one of them, Victor. The culture and traditions seem to be diminishing because the children separate themselves and they are avoiding time together with each other.
Isabelle is going through a tough time living without her beloved husband. Her willingness to move in with Paul would enable her to reorganize her life. Isabelle’s children demonstrated Sigmund Freud’s theory because they seemed to detach themselves from one another (Zhang, 2020). Mainly anything that gave them the memory of their father, they appeared to distance themselves even to the extent of isolating themselves.
Paul was more stressed because he had to put the family together despite the situation. Lenore avoided their mother, who talked about Victor every time. Joseph had difficult moments since the whole family avoided him (Lövdén et al., 2020). This method was not favorable to them because they could have time to mourn together and accept the reality of the matter. If they could have mourned collectively as a family, they would heal quickly and move on with their lives.
Intervention Process
Since everyone was an adult, they should have first aimed at resolving their family differences. It would help them in grieving together effectively, thus fastening the process. Everyone seemed to mourn alone and blamed each other for the death of their father, which was irreversible. The simple intervention process would allow them to express themselves. The overwhelmed Paul could be assisted with his huge responsibility of reconciling the household.
They would understand each other better and the reasons for their extreme reactions against themselves. For instance, why Joseph went against their parent’s wishes and how he felt after being abandoned by his siblings (Broderick & Blewitt, 2019). Once all diversities have been dealt with, a counselor could take them through therapy (Andriessen et al., 2019). Allowing Isabelle to move in with Paul could help her view life from a different perspective and also assist Paul with the family burden.
Individual and Cultural Challenges
All parties involved in this study were adults, indicating that child-parent relationships are vital in socially integrating generations. It is also common for the lifespan of family members to overlap at some point. Keeping domestic affairs healthy ensures that the parent teaches their adult kids how to handle their late adulthood. Poor relations lead to psychological distress for both older and young individuals. Isabelle’s social life was affected when all her children ignored her (Broderick & Blewitt, 2019).
The entire family was unable to resolve the challenging issues that met them. The stormy relationship between Victor and his sons, Paul and Joseph, would result in loneliness, divorce, separation, and distress. Victor was a quiet man in character, and this affected him negatively. He could not request extra help when he was ill but only let nature take its course. The fact that he could not unite his family was inherited by Paul and Joseph, who lacked communication even when stressed.
Summary
The men of this Isabelle family lacked communication skills; thus, they could not address their problems. The family failed to follow the Italian-American culture that values togetherness in a family. Many conflicts reported in the case study could have been avoided if the members had united and grieved. Victor’s death saddened everyone because of the disagreements they had gone through concerning his ailment. It would be easier for them to heal if they mourned collectively. They were all aware that Victor was on his deathbed. Therefore, they could use that moment to honor and entice him for memories. Strong relationships among the members could help Isabelle to transition well after the death of her husband. Isabelle should have spent her late adulthood finding satisfaction and meaning in life. They could focus on resolving conflict among themselves as they age gracefully because the habit would likely be integrated with their future generation.
References
Andriessen, K., Krysinska, K., Hill, N., Reifels, L., Robinson, J., Reavley, N., & Pirkis, J. (2019). Effectiveness of interventions for people bereaved through suicide: A systematic review of controlled studies of grief, psychosocial and suicide-related outcomes. BMC Psychiatry, 19(1), 1-15. Web.
Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2019). The life span (5th ed.). Pearson Education (US). Web.
DiCello, D., Pidano, A., & Mangione, L. (2018). An Italian-American view of grief: connection, transformation and resilience. Mortality, 23(3), 261-278. Web.
Lövdén, M., Fratiglioni, L., Glymour, M. M., Lindenberger, U., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2020). Education and cognitive functioning across the life span. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 21(1), 6-41. Web.
Van der Horst, F. C., Van Rosmalen, L., & van der Veer, R. (2019). John Bowlby’s critical evaluation of the work of René Spitz. History of Psychology, 22(2), 205b. Web.
Zhang, S. (2020). Psychoanalysis: The influence of Freud’s theory in personality psychology. In International Conference on Mental Health and Humanities Education (ICHHE 2020) (pp. 229-232). Atlantis Press. Web.