Communicating with Someone who is Grieving

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Abstract

The focus of this paper was on strengthening research on communications with someone who is grieving a loss of a loved one, due to death, with the ultimate goal of improving the comfort that grieving people receive from significant others in their lives. The paper’s mandate was to research the field of grief research as a whole, and develop guidelines and suggestions to improve and support the grieving person. When you lose a parent -you lose your past. When you lose spouse - you lose your present. The simplest definition of bereavement refers to the loss of a loved one by death and grief refers to the psychological, physical, and emotional process resulting from bereavement. The experience of loss may be universal, but responses to loss vary widely and there is no one clearly defined course or process of bereavement or grieving. Responses to bereavement may be influenced by characteristics such as age, gender, developmental stage, nature of the relationship, historical responses to trauma. This presentation will review current research and practice regarding bereavement and the benefits of caring support for the bereaved.