Bowlby's Grief Theory

Improved Essays
Throughout middle school and the beginning of high school, Jenna and Hayley knew each other, but never really were good friends until Jenna’s freshman year of high school. Jenna was a very outgoing person and liked to be friends with everyone. Hayley was a year older than her so she was a little nervous to talk to Hayley since she was an upperclassman. Many basketball practices later, Hayley and Jenna got to know each other better and Jenna knew that they would become great friends. One day Hayley asked Jenna if she wanted to go shopping with her, her mom, and aunt. Jenna wasn’t sure because she only knew Hayley through basketball. Jenna ended up agreeing to go with them and they had a fun day shopping together and getting to know one another. …show more content…
Bowlby was a psychoanalyst and father of attachment theory. His grief theory described a series of stages through which bereaved individuals experience grief reactions, and in time, reach recovery (Domingo, Cañal, Labine, & Capoquian, 2016, p. 128). Even though Jenna didn’t experience the loss of death, she still experienced the lots of her best friend. Bowlby’s four stages of grief are numbness, yearning, disorganization and despair, and reorganization. Jenna experienced all of these feelings during the gradual loss of her friendship. The first response Jenna had from her loss was numbness. She was numb because she couldn’t believe Hayley dated her ex-boyfriend. She didn’t think it was true at first until people started coming up to her and telling her about it. Jenna was also angry that her best friend could ditch her for her other senior friends. According to Bowlby, bereaved individuals exhibit outbursts of extremely intense distress and/or anger, and are likely unable to comprehend the full impact of the loss (Domingo, et al., 2016, p. 129). The next stage Jenna went through was yearning. She had a best friend for the past few years and suddenly, she had no one to turn to. After Jenna yearned for her best friend, her life became somewhat disorganized. Jenna had a busy schedule since she was in volleyball, but on her days off she had to face reality. She felt disorganized with her life and she didn’t like the way her life was

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Grief can alter our idea of existence and can reveal human experiences through our level of resilience. Amanda Lohrey’s vertigo is centralised around the theme of…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In most psychological case studies, it is shown that the loss is manifested in a variety of symptoms. For example, psychologist Mash Herberman and his colleagues say, “symptoms of complicated grief include persistent yearning and longing, preoccupation with the deceased or circumstances of the death, [and] difficulty accepting the death…” (1202). Anna’s symptoms specifically surface in scene fourteen, when she is thinking about her impending “death” and wondering how Carl will react to it. She says: ANNA.…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family is an important part of life, you would do almost anything for those you call family. In “The Shattering” by Kare Healey three teenagers come together to find a serial killer, who killed each of the teens eldest brothers, through the investigation trying to find the murderer who destroyed their families the teens, Keri, Sione, and Janna, try to keep their investigation a secret and rebuild their lives. The title “The Shattering” is correctly portrayed by the trail of pain and betrayal, but also shows how that pain can prepare you life. In the beginning, our story introduces Keri who had just lost her brother, it was determined to be a suicide. Keri was heart-broken and destroyed when she found her brother’s dead body.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Ortiz Research Paper

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    John was familiar with a few kids at his new high school from his early childhood before he had moved, but over the years of not seeing each other, their relationships had dissolved. The first couple weeks of high school were tough for John as a group of kids had begun hectoring him over his weight. His self-confidence was fading and he was having a very difficult time adjusting to his new surroundings. Also, the pressure of being the only one in his small group of friends without a Homecoming date was starting to weigh on him.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    A*1/A2 Bowlby's theory of attachment is relevant to transitions as it identifies the effects of separation on a child however Bowlby's theory is out dated in the fact that his research was carried out after the second world war and in an age where mothers didn’t go out to work. Also Bowlby stated that the child can form an attachment with one main carer this has proven to be incorrect because Schaffer and Emerson found that children can have multiple attachments by carrying out research on children. Bowlby's theory only looked at the relationship of the child with the mother and criticised the role of the father. He thought that the role of the father was to support the mother. Lamb disagreed with Bowlby's view in the role of the father…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When man goes through a traumatic experience, such as the loss of a loved one, his mind is significantly altered. He will begin to show signs of depression and withdraw from the community, usually engrossed by his own perception of the world around him. According to an article on the psychological symptoms of grief by author Maurice Lamm, a person in grief suffers from accusation of self, a loss of warmth, irritation and anger, hostility, and restlessness. Furthermore, in his article, Brook Noel explains that symptoms of grief include impulsive living in a surreal and dreamlike state. In The Cather in the Rye, J.D Salinger reveals the everlasting psychological results of grief through a teen-aged boy, Holden Caulfield.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Greif is a peculiar reaction to any substantial loss. Every person deal with its repercussion in an irreplaceable approach (Healgrief.org, 2012). There are many forms of grief such as loved one’s loss, health loss or relationship loss. Each person’s torment varies in respect to the form of emotional state allied to the grief reaction. It can be emanated as misperception, irritation, guilt and wretchedness.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I felt her insecurity and fear of others looking down on her if she didn’t wear certain clothes or act a certain way. I felt the pain in living such a constricted lifestyle with such limited freedom to express myself for who I really was. Rather than judging Julia and holding anger against her for being part of this group of people, I learned that beneath the makeup, partying, and booty shorts was the same silly, goofy friend that was now so trapped in maintaining her reputation that she felt too hopeless to fight for her…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The main character of the story is named Sarah and she is attending Northwest Missouri State University. Sarah’s two best friends are named Emily and Aiyana. Both of these characters are main characters and play a huge role in the plot of this story. Sarah spends a majority of her time with these two characters and the reader is allowed to not only see the growth of the friendship, but also the personal growth of the individual characters, making them dynamic. Another character is Sarah’s mom Rozanne.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. Ken Moses and Elizabeth Kubler- Ross both agreed on denial having some sort of purpose in the grieving process. Denial in our society is often looked as a negative emotion, but in my opinion I think this a normal reaction. In which someone has to go through denial to reach the other stages in the grieving process. Unlike Dr. Ross, Moses believed that denial is present through all the steps of his theory of the grieving process.…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Attachment is a basic need of every human. For a close and intimate relationship between infants and their caregiver's attachment is the most important factor. Responsive and contingent parenting produces secure attachment with children and those children who show more curiosity, self-reliance, and independence. Securely attached children also tend to become more resilient and competent adults. Whereas, the children who do not experience a secure attachment with their caregivers might have difficulty getting along with others and they are unable to develop a sense of confidence or trust in others.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Self Loss Research Paper

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Judith Viorst, psychoanalysis researcher, claims that after a loss you go through the stages of shock, denial, mourning, anger, guilt, and acceptance (Viorst 239-243). Although this devastating event occurred, life does not stop here. Despite the circumstances, you are forced to move on and rebuild your self. While you are recreating the self, you are also taking what you learn from the breakup and implementing it to your becoming. Rather than having to focus on your partner, you now must focus on yourself to make sense of your becoming.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The behaviour of an individual and the relationships they have – whether it’s platonic, romantic or familial – can be traced back to early childhood - as early as infancy even. Bowlby (1977) defines attachment as; “an enduring emotional bond which an individual forms to another person.” In other words, attachment is a strong tie an individual has with special figures in their lives, in whom they place great trust in. When they interact with these special figures, they feel joy and experience pleasure, likewise, in times of distress, they turn to them to seek comfort.…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Effects of Litigation on the Grieving Process Everyone at some point in their lives will experience loss and grieving. Loss of a loved one is an inevitable part of life (Craig, 2010). Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1969) was the first to identify that there are five observable stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It is believed that grief and bereavement is universal and unavoidable (Bolden, 2007) . It is also accepted that everyone grieves differently as bereavement is a unique experience, but ultimately go through the stages of grief as part of natural healing (Craig,2010; Utz, Caserta & Lund,2011).…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Based on Bowlby’s Phases of Grieving, Mrs. Edwards retained affectional bonds with her husband through attachment behaviors, which were crucial to the development of a sense of security and survival. When Mr. Edwards died, the bond was broken leaving his wife with anxiety, protest, and anger. Analyzing Mrs. Edwardson’s grieving process, I think she went through the first two phases and was never able to accept changes and restore her life. Physical distress accompanied the first stage of shock and numbness. It is crucial to progress through this phase to be able to accept and understand emotions and communicate them.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays