Deck 9: Coping With Loss and Grief

Question 1

Behaviors in the bereaved such as searching for the dead person and calling out for that person are:

A) Abnormal
B) Normal
C) Pathological
D) Delusions
E) Melancholia

Answer 1

B

Question 2

It is best to describe grief reactions as:

A) Manifestations
B) Symptoms
C) Feelings
D) All of these
E) None of these

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A traumatic loss is .

A) usually not perceived as preventable
B) ordinarily associated with death, but not with destruction of property
C) typically linked to a single death
D) one that supports our notions of an assumptive world
E) often one that involves a significant threat to personal survival

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Normal reactions to loss include .

A) depression
B) anger
C) complicated grief
D) the complete absence of grief
E) the development of phobias

Question 5

The only alternative to experiencing the pain of loss would be .

A) to form multiple attachments
B) to remain impervious to love
C) to restrict and impoverish one's life
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 6

Encounters with bereavement and grief are .

A) abnormal experiences
B) symptoms of loss
C) morbid processes
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 7

A common physical response when experiencing grief related to a death is .

A) yearning
B) a sense of relaxation
C) increased appetite
D) lack of energy
E) euphoria

Question 8

Other than a strong faith, other variables that influence a healthy bereavement period include:

A) Effective coping strategies
B) Strong ties with family and a circle of friends
C) Successful methods used in coping with past crises
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 9

In itself, grief at the time of a death is .

A) an unhealthy response
B) an occasional occurrence
C) a healthy response
D) an indicator of the need for psychiatric intervention
E) an aberration

Question 10

A bereaved person may experience:

A) Behavioral changes
B) Physical changes
C) Cognitive changes
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 11

The concept of an "assumptive world" refers to:

A) False beliefs that people hold about the world
B) Hopes, fears, and other emotional reactions to the world
C) A conceptual system providing expectations about the world and ourselves
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 12

Grief after a death is typically related to .

A) the loss of the loved one
B) the loss that the self has experienced
C) the loss of the loved one and one's own loss(es)
D) personal weakness
E) None of these

Question 13

The experience of loss is .

A) characteristic of people who avoid love
B) receiving hostages from fortune
C) a risk run by those who form attachments
D) ransom paid to establish future relationships
E) None of these

Question 14

Grief after a significant loss is often comingled with assigning blame for a loss to oneself, which is usually called _________.

A) depression
B) loneliness
C) guilt
D) sadness
E) anger

Question 15

Anger, guilt, and anxiety are most closely associated with:

A) Bereavement
B) Loss
C) Grief
D) Mourning
E) Catharsis

Question 16

Bereavement is the state of:

A) Feeling numb
B) Experiencing a loss or deprivation
C) Being disorganized after a loss
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 17

Experiences of bereavement and grief are likely to be affected by:

A) Social support received by the bereaved after the loss
B) The prior attachment between the survivor and the deceased
C) Coping strategies developed by the bereaved person in dealing with previous losses
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 18

Three elements that are essential in all bereavement:

A) Depression, loss, and cathexis
B) Loneliness, shame, and melancholia
C) Grief, guilt, and decathexis
D) A valued relationship, loss, and a survivor
E) Anticipation, depersonalization, and love

Question 19

Grief reactions to loss may often include .

A) physical sensations
B) behaviors
C) spiritual searching
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 20

Common physical sensations in bereaved persons include .

A) nausea and vomiting
B) shortness of breath and lack of energy
C) fever and diarrhea
D) increased appetite and thirst
E) hallucinations

Question 21

According to Martin and Doka's account of adaptive grieving styles, "instrumental" grievers tend .

A) not to share their feelings and emotions
B) not to experience grief deeply
C) to turn away from practical matters and problem solving
D) to talk openly to others about their inner feelings
E) to find support groups very helpful

Question 22

The "dual process" model proposed by Stroebe and Schut claims that mourning involves an oscillation between two sets of processes. These processes are oriented towards:

A) Denial and acceptance
B) Yearning and searching
C) Shock and numbness
D) Rejection and reconciliation
E) Loss and restoration

Question 23

Anticipatory grief and mourning include .

A) bereavement experiences after a death
B) disenfranchised grief and complicated grief reactions
C) responses to losses that have not yet occurred prior to a death
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 24

Continuing bonds with an internal representation of the deceased are .

A) usually dynamic, rather than static
B) evidence of psychopathology
C) central to Freud's doctrine of "grief work" as it moves toward completion
D) entanglements with the person who died in unhealthy ways
E) found in children, but not in adults

Question 25

Cantor's views mourning as moving toward "enriched remembrance." In this, he .

A) argues for the centrality of forgetfulness in the process
B) depicts memories as becoming an integral part of the mourner's personality
C) looks upon the deceased as an absence in a barren world
D) says the process is characteristically completed in one year
E) can be artificially accelerated

Question 26

Shock, awareness of loss, conservation/withdrawal, healing-the turning point, renewal, and fulfillment are _________.

A) phases in mourning according to John Bowlby and Colin Murray Parkes
B) processes in mourning according to Margaret Stroebe and Henk Schut
C) tasks in mourning according to J. William Worden
D) phases in mourning according to Catherine Sanders
E) None of these

Question 27

When some writers argue that grief and mourning can lead to some positive opportunities, they mean that _________.

A) mourning can lead to growth and transformation
B) mourning has a preset outcome in both principle and time
C) terms like "recovery," "completion," or "resolution" are good descriptors for the goals of mourning
D) time heals
E) mourning is about moving from being a survivor to becoming a victim

Question 28

According to Martin and Doka's account of adaptive grieving styles, "intuitive" grievers tend .

A) not to share their feelings and emotions
B) not to experience grief deeply
C) to emphasize practical matters and problem solving
D) to talk openly to others about their inner feelings
E) to find support groups very unhelpful

Question 29

According to Worden, complicated grief reactions include:

A) Immediate grief reactions
B) Unmasked grief reactions
C) Yearning and searching
D) Chronic grief reactions
E) Anticipatory grief reactions

Question 30

Neimeyer describes "meaning reconstruction" by bereaved persons as involving:

A) A process that is done by all grievers in similar ways at similar times
B) Accounting for the significance of the loss or focusing on positive benefits for those left behind
C) Relinquishing, rather than redefining, a continued bond with the deceased
D) Confirmation of the notion that grief unfolds in predictable patterns over time
E) A process that is independent of cultural influences

Question 31

According to Bowlby and Parkes, initial reactions to loss are likely to take the form of .

A) reorganization
B) shock and numbness
C) yearning and searching
D) disorganization and despair
E) acceptance

Question 32

According to Walsh and McGoldrick, tasks confronting bereaved family members and family units include _________.

A) reorganizing the family system
B) sharing the experience of loss
C) reinvesting in other relationships and life pursuits
D) sharing acknowledgment of the reality of the death
E) All of these

Question 33

When Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler applied KR's theory of five stages in coping with dying to bereaved persons, they maintained that:

A) Everyone goes through these stages in the mourning process.
B) They are responses that all people have.
C) They are stops on a linear timeline of grief.
D) Our grief is as individual as our lives.
E) They are always experienced in the prescribed order.

Question 34

In the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2013), the American Psychiatric Association removed the so-called "bereavement exclusion," which barred diagnoses of major depressive disorders for a stipulated time after a death. Critics maintained that this change may lead to .

A) primary care physicians who may have little training in care of the bereaved will be writing prescriptions for antidepressants
B) normal reactions to the death of a loved one may now be easily misclassified as depression
C) antidepressants prescribed for depression, which have not been shown to be helpful for bereavement, may now be commonly ordered for bereaved people
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 35

Catherine Sanders' phase theory in mourning is an advance over the stage theory of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross because:

A) Sanders describes choices bereaved individuals can make within the mourning process.
B) Sanders offered a research-based sequence of mourning vs. a set of clinical observations.
C) Sanders emphasized the individuality of the mourning process.
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 36

According to Attig, mourning involves "relearning the world." By doing this, we .

A) engage in an oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented processes
B) move from loving in presence to loving in separation
C) develop an unfavorable account of the significance of the loss
D) relinquish a continuing bond with the deceased
E) focus on negative benefits to those left behind

Question 37

Worden's mourning task that asks the bereaved person "to find an enduring connection with the deceased in the midst of embarking on a new life" means that the bereaved person .

A) should forget the individual who died and start on a new life
B) should try to relearn the world while also maintaining an enriched remembrance of the deceased
C) should move forward without any physical or psychological manifestations of grief
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 38

The term "mourning" as used in our textbook refers to .

A) reactions to a loss
B) interpersonal and intrapersonal processes in coping with loss
C) a rejection of the assumptive world
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 39

One of Worden's tasks in mourning is "to find an enduring connection with the deceased in the midst of embarking on a new life." Personal Insights 9.5 in the eighth edition of Death & Dying, Life & Living described how four widows dealt with their wedding rings after the death of their spouse. Which of these widows was addressing this task in mourning?

A) The one who moved her wedding ring from the third finger of her left hand to her right hand
B) The one who removed her wedding ring and put it away in her jewelry box
C) The one who had her wedding ring and her husband's fashioned into a pendant
D) The one who continued to wear her wedding ring on the third finger of her left hand
E) All of the above

Question 40

According to our textbook, traditional mourning models have frequently made several assumptions which more recent studies have challenged. Among these assumptions are:

A) That all human beings responding to loss follow a universal pattern of mourning
B) That human beings differ in their responses to loss based on their culture's values and expectations
C) That there are no specific stages through which all human beings progress as they mourn a loss
D) That mourning is best understood as a personal response which cannot be adequately described as following some universal pattern
E) None of the above

Question 41

Explain the concept of "traumatic loss."

Question 42

Our textbook says that "Ordinary, uncomplicated grief is a healthy, normal, and appropriate reaction to loss." Explain what this means.

Question 43

According to Niemeyer, "meaning reconstruction" is a significant component in the mourning or grieving of bereaved persons. Discuss two aspects of such "meaning reconstruction" as it occurs in the mourning of bereaved persons.

Question 44

Distinguish clearly between grief and clinical depression.

Question 45

Define the following three (3) terms: "Bereavement," "grief," and "mourning." In your account of these three terms, explain how they are similar or related and how they are different.

Question 46

In Chapter 9, we examined whether or not mourning did or could involve fixed end points and opportunities for growth and transformation. Explain your understanding of these two topics. Be specific.

Question 47

Identify and explain three (3) of the five (5) principal variables that appear to make a difference in the ways in which bereavement and grief are experienced.

Question 48

In Chapter 9, we described three classical theories of mourning, one from John Bowlby and Colin Murray Parkes,
one from Catherine Sanders, and one that begins with the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler, but goes on with the work of Paul Maciejewski and colleagues. Chose two (2) of these theories and explain them. Carefully describe the nature, components, and purpose(s) of the theories you select.

Question 49

In Chapter 9, we described four new models of active coping and personal pathways in bereavement: Tasks in mourning, the dual process model, adaptive grieving styles, and meaning reconstruction. Chose two (2) of these theories and explain them. Carefully describe the nature, components, and purpose(s) of the theories you select. Explain whether the two theories fit together.

Question 50

Explain the concepts of "anticipatory grief" and "anticipatory mourning."