PWID: A Brief Analysis

It’s important to acknowledge that a PWID has the ability to recognize the significance of a death or loss, however, there must be a theoretical understanding of the common types of grief and loss that speak to this population’s subjective experiences. Read et al. (2014), argued that the experience of bereavement for a PWID can be best understood under the umbrella of disenfranchised grief. This type of grief can be associated with a PWID because on a macro level there has been limited support and acknowledgment for individuals within the spectrum of intellectually disabled. Specifically, society has generally overlooked the emotional needs of a PWID, which has produced social exclusion as well as a general misunderstanding of the services …show more content…
For example, a study conducted for the purposes of identifying how a PWID make sense of major (traumatic) life experiences, concluded that participants “can acknowledge bereavement and experience grief, and they can do so in ways that are consistent with those of the general population” (McRitchie, McKenzie, Quayle, Harlin, & Neumann, 2014). For instance, the discussion of grief and loss as it relates to a child’s ability to comprehend and/or respond to death is an important perspective that can be used to make connections between children who experience grief and those with lower levels of cognitive functioning. Hooyman and Kramer’s (2008), denoted the developmental changes in regards to the ways in which children respond to a death or loss. Their collection of studies was broken down by the differences at each age group. Uniquely, children at various developmental ages responded to a loss in a variety of ways, some of which displayed sleep disturbances or changes in eating patterns (Hooyman & Kramer, 2008). Although there is not a standard way in which one grieves, there are commonalities that can be used to support the sporadic emotions that are exhibited by children as well as those with an intellectual …show more content…
Despite these assumptions, growing research indicates that PWID exhibit a wide range of physiological and psychological responses, which can be classified within the spectrum of complicated grief (McRitchie et al., 2014). Largely, research that has been conducted for this population primarily concentrated on complicated grief for those with mild and moderate levels of cognitive functioning. Nevertheless, recent research delves into the complicated symptoms of grief as it relates to a PWID and the death of a parent or