Healthy Grief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healthy Grief - Essay Example â€Å"Grief is an emotional process† as what Hood, Hill & Spilka (2009, p. 198) quoted. In literature, the discussions that are common are about stages of grief, models of grief and ritual grief (Hood, Hill & Spilka, 2009, p. 198). Kubler-Ross & Kessler (2005, p. 7) stated that there are five stages of grief. These â€Å"five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance† (Kubler-Ross & Kessler, 2005, p. 7). These are the process in which each person should undergo once they experience the loss of someone. According to them, these are only identifiers for which a person feels when in time of grief, but it does not conclude that a person will experience all of these stages (Kubler-Ross & Kessler, 2005, p. 7). Also, Kubler-Ross & Kessler (2005, p. 7) state that it does not need to be exactly the same order as how they presented the stages of grief. These are only tools for people to identify easily what they are going through in times of grief. The firs t stage, which is denial, does not literally mean that the people who lost their loved ones do not know it. This denial is â€Å"more symbolic than literal† as noted by Kubler-Ross & Kessler (2005, p. 8). The second and third stages are anger and bargaining. Anger, according to Kubler-Ross & Kessler (2005, p. ... After that, depression is the next stage. A person who lost someone feels empty and alone during this stage. Hence, it does not mean that when a person feels this way, it is a sign of mental illness (Kubler-Ross & Kessler, 2005, p. 20). Depression is normal to a person who just lost someone. Further, the last stage is acceptance. This is the point where the person accepts the reality that someone is dead. On this stage, the person will learn to live with it. On the other hand, the five stages of grief have many critics. There are some psychologists who also proposed other multi-stage models of grieving. Musgrave and Bickle (2003, p. 46) have drawn one of the popular stories of the Bible which is the story of Job. They stated that the story focuses on how someone heals through grieving. In the story of Job, Job deals not only a human grieving, but it also included God (â€Å"The Book of Job,† 2011). Though Job experienced the worst way of human grieving, it shows some of the st ages of grief. In the story of Job, it only shows three stages among the five stages of grief from Kubler-Ross and Kessler (2005). These would be bargaining, depression and acceptance. It may sound unusual, but it seemed that acceptance comes first in the story of Job. It came first because Job is a believer of God. Thus, Job knew that his trials are part of God’s plan (â€Å"The Book of Job,† 2011). Since Job’s love for God is strong, he did not feel any anger and denial. Moreover, there’s one thing that Job showed - joy (â€Å"The Book of Job,† 2011). Though Job is suffering, he still shows hope that one day he will meet God face to face. Hence, it somehow gave him joy. In comparison between joy and the grieving process, a person can obtain joy once he/she free himself/herself from any