[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Grief Counseling
Introduction
Death is the endpoint of growing old. As children, we can hardly imagine death. In youth, we defy death. By mid-life, we begin to understand death as more than a concept--it becomes an inner reality, an expectation. As old age moves through us, we come more and more to accept the coming fact of our own death, an acceptance that is reinforced by our participation in rituals that commemorate the deaths of others who are close to us.
Cross-culturally, awe is always a central aspect of the human regard for death. But in our culture, we have learned to look at death with different emotions--fear, even loathing. In medical science, death is regarded as the enemy to be vanquished. This cultural perspective makes it difficult for us to do the work that we need to do to prepare for death. Only when we can look on death as the last great transition, the proper end to life, perhaps even the beginning of other unknowns, can we look toward our timely death with a welcome anticipation.
Learning to look at death is part of learning to look at loss and mourning. Mourning is a process, not an illness. Commonly, mourning the loss of someone who is important to us takes a period of about two years. If mourning does not proceed well--if it gets "stuck"--then it can become dysfunctional. Every episode of mourning we enter revives all of our past losses. Mourning can get stuck in feelings of anger, sadness, or denial of the importance of the loss; depression is one common expression of incomplete mourning. It is healthy to review our past losses at the time of a new loss and period of mourning; often those prior experiences of loss can be brought closer to completion and can therefore be less disturbing in everyday events of life.................
