Bereavement and grief: A review

Abstract

The death of a loved one is considered to be a painful and challenging experience for all bereaved individuals. Concepts such as bereavement, mourning, and grief are used interchangeably, describing social, individual, and situational processes after loss or separation. Each person grieves in different ways. Many theorists who try to shed light on this area to understand the process of bereavement and grief have developed various theories. Due to the interpersonal differences observed in grief reactions and the variety of factors affecting the grief process, grief; It has been defined in three different ways: normal, pathological, and traumatic grief. If individuals are going through the normal grief process, the assistance of an expert is usually not required. If the individual shows signs of pathological grief, they require assistance from an expert to complete the grief process in a healthy way. The aims of this study are to understand the grief process of the bereaved, to explain important concepts, developed theories. For this purpose, electronic research databases (Google Scholar, Electronic Books, Pubmed) have been analysed and searched. The bereavement and grief process were researched in terms of sociodemographic, personality (attachment, neuroticism), social characteristics and risk factors. In addition, it was aimed to comprehensively examine its place in the diagnostic classification, its clinical appearance, grief and treatment approaches.