Exam 10: Coping With Loss and Grief: How Individuals Can Help

Contemporary American society often conveys unhelpful messages to bereaved persons. Identify and explain two (2) such unhelpful messages. Your reply should make clear why these messages are unhelpful.

Your close friend has been notified that her husband committed suicide at work. Your most helpful response would be:

Bereaved persons are often angry with themselves and/or with the dead person. How might you be helpful when this happens?

Chapter 10 in our textbook describes ways to help bereaved persons with four types of tasks in mourning. Explain how a helper could assist with affective and valuational tasks. Give a concrete example for helping with each of these two types of tasks. Be detailed and thorough in your reply.

After burying his wife, one adult found his answering machine still had a recording of her voice from a message she left a few days before her death. When he listens to this recording, he says he finds comfort and solace. As he tells you about this, your best response would be:

Mrs. Lopez's husband was killed in a motorcycle accident six weeks ago. She and her husband have always been your favorite neighbors and you had many fun times together. She is now not as friendly and does not want to share in familiar recreational activities. You should:

Grief resulting from a loss that is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, publicly mourned, or socially supported is called:

In Personal Insights 10.4 in the eighth edition of Death & Dying, Life & Living ("For a Time of Sorrow"), Howard Thurman writes that he would offer to help a bereaved person by

You visit with a close friend who lost his significant other one year ago. In your friend's house there still are pictures of the person who died, his clothes in the closets, and his articles in the living room. Your response to this situation should be:

Rabbi Kushner's book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, concerns itself with the following type of task faced by persons who are mourning