PCN-518 Topic 8: Bereavement Across The Life Span Directions ✓ Solved

PCN-518 Topic 8: Bereavement Across the Life Span Directions

PCN-518 Topic 8: Bereavement Across the Life Span Directions: One's understanding of death and the bereavement process changes over the life span. Using the matrix provided below, summarize how the various stages of life understand death, and how each might grieve the loss of a loved one. Create a short vignette for each age group that expresses your understanding of the age group's response to death and bereavement. Finally, hypothesize how a professional counselor might counsel each age group through the bereavement process. The first stage has been completed for you as an example.

Age Group

Perception/Cognition of Grief

Response to Grief

Vignette (short example/story of a child’s loss scenario)

Counseling Interventions (including best practice interventions) for this age group)

Baby and Toddler

Does not understand the permanency of grief.

Excessive crying and yearning to being held.

A baby’s birth mother died during delivery.

Counsel the guardians of the baby to be sure to tend to the baby’s need for touch and comfort.

Preschool Age

Grade School Age

Adolescence/Teenage Years

Adulthood

Late Adulthood

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction: Bereavement is experienced through the lens of cognitive, emotional and social development; therefore assessment and intervention must be developmentally tailored (Worden, 2009). The matrix below summarizes perception of death, common grief responses, a short vignette for each age group, and evidence-based counseling interventions. Theoretical anchors include attachment theory (Bowlby, 1980), cognitive-developmental stages (Piaget, 1954), psychosocial stages (Erikson, 1950), and contemporary bereavement research (Stroebe & Schut, 1999; Bonanno, 2004).

Baby and Toddler

Perception/Cognition: Infants and toddlers lack concepts of permanence and causality; they respond to separation and changes in caregiving routines rather than an intellectual understanding of death (Piaget, 1954; Bowlby, 1980).

Response to Grief: Increased crying, sleep and feed disruptions, clinginess, regression (Worden, 1996).

Vignette: A three-month-old infant whose mother died at delivery becomes more irritable, wakes frequently at night, and is soothed only when held. Caregivers notice weight loss and increased startle reactions.

Counseling Interventions: Interventions are caregiver-focused: support primary caregivers to provide consistent, nurturing routines; educate on attachment needs and soothing techniques; coordinate with pediatric and home-visiting services (Worden, 1996; Bowlby, 1980). Monitor physical health and refer to specialized infant mental health if symptoms persist.

Preschool Age (3–5 years)

Perception/Cognition: Preschoolers often exhibit magical thinking and may view death as reversible or a form of sleep; they may personalize death as punishment or a result of their thoughts or behavior (Piaget, 1954).

Response to Grief: Behavioral reenactment of loss in play, separation anxiety, regressive behaviors (e.g., toileting accidents), and concrete questions about routines (Worden, 1996).

Vignette: A four-year-old whose grandfather dies begins to play “doctor” treating a toy that “sleeps,” asks if grandpa will come back, and regresses to thumb-sucking at naptime.

Counseling Interventions: Use play-based interventions and non-threatening, concrete explanations about death (simple, truthful language). Support caregivers to maintain routines and provide reassurance. Child-centered play therapy and family sessions help externalize feelings; involve caregivers in techniques to manage regressive behaviors (Worden, 1996; Rando, 1993).

Grade School Age (6–12 years)

Perception/Cognition: Children develop more realistic, concrete notions of death as final and irreversible, though understanding of abstract concepts (e.g., inevitability) deepens with age (Piaget, 1954).

Response to Grief: Sadness, anger, guilt, academic difficulties, somatic complaints, curiosity about biological details (Worden, 1996).

Vignette: An eight-year-old whose mother dies of cancer asks detailed questions about illness, withdraws from friends, and shows declining grades and stomachaches before school.

Counseling Interventions: Provide age-appropriate psychoeducation about death and illness. Use expressive therapies (art, narrative), school liaison for academic support, and family therapy to normalize grief and communication. Introduce tasks of mourning (accepting the reality, processing pain, adjusting to environment, and relocating the deceased emotionally) adapted to cognitive level (Worden, 2009).

Adolescence/Teenage Years

Perception/Cognition: Adolescents understand death intellectually and existentially; they grapple with identity and meaning, and may confront mortality in relation to their developing autonomy (Erikson, 1950).

Response to Grief: Intense emotions, risk-taking, withdrawal, academic changes, identity-related questioning, and oscillation between independence and seeking support (Kübler-Ross, 1969; Bonanno, 2004).

Vignette: A 16-year-old loses a close friend in an accident, alternates between numbness and anger, skips classes, and posts ambivalent messages online about life and meaning.

Counseling Interventions: Combine individual psychotherapy (CBT and meaning-centered approaches), group interventions with peers to reduce isolation, and family sessions to address communication and autonomy. Screen for complicated grief and suicidality; mobilize school counselors and peer support networks (Shear, 2015; Worden, 2009).

Adulthood (Young–Middle Adult)

Perception/Cognition: Adults typically have a mature conceptualization of death but responses vary based on role responsibilities (parenting, career), previous losses, and cultural/religious frameworks (Kübler-Ross, 1969; Stroebe & Schut, 1999).

Response to Grief: Intense sorrow, functional impairment, and in some cases resilience; individuals may oscillate between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping (Dual Process Model) (Stroebe & Schut, 1999; Bonanno, 2004).

Vignette: A 40-year-old parent loses a spouse to sudden illness and must navigate single parenting, financial responsibilities, and disruptive grief while returning to work.

Counseling Interventions: Support practical problem-solving (restoration-oriented), individual grief therapy focused on meaning reconstruction, couples/family therapy when appropriate, and evidence-based treatments for complicated grief (Shear et al., 2015). Encourage social support and monitor for prolonged functional impairment.

Late Adulthood (Elderly)

Perception/Cognition: Older adults often face multiple losses (peers, health, roles) and may incorporate existential reflection into understanding of death (Erikson’s integrity vs. despair). Cognitive decline can complicate processing for some (Erikson, 1950).

Response to Grief: Grief may be compounded by health problems, isolation, anticipatory grief, and cumulative bereavement; resilience is common but risk of complicated grief or depression is elevated in isolated individuals (Bonanno, 2004; Shear, 2015).

Vignette: A 78-year-old widower experiences increased loneliness after losing his spouse of 50 years, shows sleep disturbances and disengagement from previously enjoyed activities.

Counseling Interventions: Provide grief counseling that addresses loss history, encourages social reintegration (community programs, peer groups), and addresses health and practical needs. Use life review and meaning-making interventions to support Eriksonian integrity; screen and treat depression or complicated grief (Rando, 1993; Shear, 2015).

Conclusion

Across the life span, grief responses and optimal interventions depend on developmental stage, attachment history, social supports, and prior losses. Best practice requires developmentally informed assessment, caregiver involvement for children, evidence-based individual and group therapies for adolescents and adults, and attention to practical restoration tasks across adulthood (Worden, 2009; Stroebe & Schut, 1999). Clinicians should be vigilant for complicated grief and comorbid conditions and apply specialist interventions (Shear, 2015; Rando, 1993) when indicated.

References

• Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59(1), 20–28.
• Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and Loss (Vol. 3): Loss, Sadness and Depression. Basic Books.
• Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On Death and Dying. Macmillan.
• Piaget, J. (1954). The Construction of Reality in the Child. Basic Books.
• Rando, T. A. (1993). Treatment of Complicated Mourning. Research Press.
• Shear, M. K. (2015). Complicated grief. The New England Journal of Medicine, 372, 153-160.
• Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (1999). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: Rationale and description. Death Studies, 23(3), 197-224.
• Worden, J. W. (1996). Children and Grief: When a Parent Dies. Guilford Press.
• Worden, J. W. (2009). Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy: A Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner (4th ed.). Springer Publishing.
• Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. Norton.