Content provided in partnership with
Grief
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, (2003) by ROBERT KASTENBAUM, KENNETH J. DOKA, JOAN BEDER, REIKO SCHWAB, KENNETH J. DOKA, REIKO SCHWAB, KENNETH J. DOKA, NORMAN L. FARBEROW, MARGARET STROEBE, WOLFGANG STROEBE, HENK SCHUT, LILLIAN M. RANGE
Cognitive stress theory, which emerged from the broader field of the psychophysiology of stress, views bereavement as a source of serious stress that can endanger health and well-being. An individual's cognitive appraisal of the event (relating situational demands to available coping resources, like social support) determines the extent to which the bereavement is experienced as challenging or stressful. Cognitive-stress theory thus emphasizes the role of cognitive appraisal in adjustment to loss; it is a variable that is similar, though not identical, to subsequent "meaning-making" conceptualizations. Cognitive-stress theory provides a framework for a fine-grained analysis of the characteristics of the stressor (bereavement) itself, the coping process (styles, strategies such as confrontation versus avoidance and emotion versus problem-focused) and outcomes (well-being and mental and physical illness). It offers a theoretical explanation for the health consequences of bereavement and provides the theoretical basis for the so-called buffering model. According to this model, high levels of social support protect (buffer) the individual from the health risks of stress. Stress research has helped identify physiological mechanisms linking stress to various detriments to the immune, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems.
A number of bereavement-specific stresscoping models have been developed that have (a) led to further specification of cognitive tasks and processes in coming to terms with bereavement, and/or (b) increased the emphasis on the impact of others on individual grief. These types of analysis form much of the basis of contemporary theorizing about bereavement. William Worden's, and Colin Parkes and Robert Weiss's task models were among the first to specify the prerequisites for coping with loss during bereavement. Worden's model represents coping with bereavement as an active, demanding process rather than an event to be passively experienced. He describes four tasks, which include accepting the reality of loss, experiencing the pain of grief, adjusting to an environment without the deceased, and relocating the deceased emotionally. Parkes and Weiss described three somewhat different tasks such as intellectual and emotional acceptance of a loss and forging a new identity.
Other investigators have focused on the way that the loss is appraised (e.g., whether these are guilt feelings or regrets and whether there is dwelling on or avoidance of grieving. Significant theoretical developments have emerged from this work. For example, George Bonanno identified socalled dissociation between psychological and physiological reactions during episodes of disclosing emotions after bereavement. He showed that some persons who did not disclose verbally, thus suggesting denial, showed evidence of grief in high physiological arousal. In the long term, this pattern of dissociation was associated with good adjustment. This appears to contradict the idea that grief work helps and that denial is dysfunctional.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: News
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »