For this blog I am going to look at how grief can create mental health problems, as well as how person’s with mental disabilities deal with grief.
Harper and Wadsworth(1993) evaluated how adult’s with mental disabilities express grief and deal with loss. Their result showed that adults with moderate to severe metal disabilities display grief responses similar to all adults. (Harper and Wadsworth,1993) They experienced a mixture of sadness, anger, anxiety, confusion, and pain, and continued to experience emotional turmoil one year from initial death and personal loss.(Harper and Wadsworth,1993) In this study their were some more intense behaviours such as self injury that were noted in 10-15% of grief reactions, but more common reactions were crying, fatigue, sleep disruption and loss of appetite of moderate intensity. (Harper and Wadsworth) Harper and Wadsworth also looked at adults with significant mental disabilities, these adults verbalized an understanding of the irreversibility of death, and their responses reflected personal beliefs as well. (1993)
I decided to look at how grief affects older persons because this past May my Grandpa passed away suddenly from a major heart attack. He left behind my Grandma who was his best friend for over 47 years. This summer I decided that I was going to stay with my Grandma to help her through this rough time as much as I could. I saw her go from a very strong minded always knows what’s best for everyone women, to not be able to make any decisions at all. I would like to say that in a way my Grandpa’s passing has made her into a softer more motherly person who isn’t afraid to express her feelings. But then on the other had I see the pure pain in her eyes every time someone brings him up, or some random object brings the memories flooding back! I have noticed that her mental health is suffering through all of this as well. Her memory is really bad, either because she just doesn’t care really anymore or she has too much on her mind. I would assume that anyone going through this would develop some kind of depression, and it just seems like she is living in a fog, and focusing on little tasks that her and my Grandpa had always wanted to complete.
Gerontol (2000) stated thatwidows who were highly dependent on their spouses had more elevated level of anxiety compared to widows who were not as dependent on their spouses. Gerontol (2000) also wrote about how yearning was deeper for women who reported more marital closeness and dependence on their spouses, than those who report that their relationships were conflicted at baseline.
Gerontol’s study makes perfect sense to me because my Grandparents were extremely close and depended on each other for everything. So I guess my Grandma going through yearning and some anxiety about how my Grandpa would want things done just shows that she is going through the grieving process.
Alyssa V
References
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci (2000) 55 (4): S197-S207.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/55.4.S197
Research in Developmental Disabilities, Volume 14, Issue 4, July-August 1993, Pages 313-330
Dennis C. Harper and John S. Wadsworth Grief in adults with mental retardation:
First Alyssa, I am truly sorry about your grandfather and the fact that your grandmother has to deal with such a great loss. There never is a good time to lose a loved one, and the impact to our mental health while dealing with grief obviously varies depending on the person dealing with the loss and the relationship to the person who has passed. This reminds me of the Winnipeg Free press article (2010, November 27, Retrieved from: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/news-of-death-kills-wife-110901369.html) that you and I discussed in class, where a 79 year old woman dies within 6 hours of the fatal car crash involving her husband of 58 years. Grief can be an all-consuming emotion, and in extreme cases can lead to the death of the surviving dependant. I definitely see the correlation in “Gerontol’s” article, and it is understandable that if you are extremely close to and highly dependent on someone and now that someone is gone, it likely would cause anxiety and mental health issues. The loss would create a life changing experience in which your menial day to day tasks spiral into disarray. This makes me agree with you about the issue of memory. Something as small as milk or the garbage really appears trivial in contrast to the devastation of the loss of a loved one. I suppose all I can hope for is 47 years of marriage myself: nearly a half decade of marriage, but a life time of love.
ReplyDelete-Darcie B.
Alyssa, your post was touching, and it was very effective that you used a situation you have personally witnessed! When people have been married so long they have a life that is so closely related to that of their spouse. When my Grandpa passed away my Grandma's life changed instantly. She had to deal with the grief of loosing him, and also had to change her entire life and daily routine. They both had their own chores in and outside the house, and without my Grandpa present she was forced to move into an apartment. Loosing a spouse, especially after a lifetime together, is a great hardship.
ReplyDelete-Eliza R.
I really enjoyed your post! I think what you did for your grandma was very inspiring and a tough thing to do because you are watching her go through such a hard time, but you acted as her rock which can be a very difficult thing for some people to do. I agree with you 100% that grief can cause a person to have some memtal health issues. Difficult times not only cause stress in an individuals life but also require adjustments to be made to their lifestyle which is sometimes very difficult to achieve. I'm sorry for the loss of your grandpa and hopefully everything with your grandma is getting better!
ReplyDelete-Brettany G.
I can not imagine losing someone I had been so close to for such a long period of time. 47 years is a long time to know someone, never mind to see them each and every day, and share every detail of your life with them. It would take a huge toll on a person's mental health to lose someone they were so close with for so long. Using a personal experience was a very good thing to do for this blog. It made it a lot more interesting and heartfelt. Your grandma is very lucky to have a granddaughter like you to help her through this.
ReplyDelete- Amanda P.
I am sorry to hear about your grandpa, and I hope your grandma is doing all right. Loosing someone close to you is the hardest and most difficult thing in life to go through.
ReplyDeleteI could not image what I would do. But like you said grief and depression is quite common, along with many other feelings after one close to you dies. Whether a person has a mental illness or not, we call have and most likely will experience grief, depression, anxiety, sadness, anger, etc. When someone dies that is very close to you, such as your spouse for 47 years, it most definitely takes a great toll on your mental health. After all, a part of you is missing. Dealing with the death of a loved one is a long process, and those who are suffering from grief need support and love, to help cope with their mental health.
I am sure your grandma is proud of you for taking initiative.
Ashley R.
Darcie,
ReplyDeleteThanks you! I totally forgot to add that article in! I guess got to wrapped up in all the facts! That article was extremely sad, but almost bitter sweet at the same time. The fact that grief and love can be that powerful is something truly amazing! I know when I heard about that story I instantly thought of the movie The Notebook...I know what a typical teenage girl! But like the article that movie also showed the purity of love and friendship.
Eliza,
I am sorry for your loss as well. I couldn’t agree with you more the fact that our Grandma’s had to basically restart/adjust their lives is something that I think takes a lot of courage and I know our Grandpa’s would be very proud of them! I found that those tasks that he always did were the constant reminder to my Grandma that he wasn’t there, it seemed like it slowed the grieving process down a little. I hope your Grandma is doing well!
Ashley,
Thank you. I have been thinking the same thing as you. “What would I do?” I think thats a big problem when something like this happens, because I know my Grandma said that you see others go through it and you just never expect to be in that situation. Maybe it’s just naive to think that it won’t ever happen to me, or maybe it’s just something that we really don’t want to happen, and because of that we just avoid those thoughts. Who knows!
Alyssa V