234 Grief and Loss Across the Lifespan
disappointment, and chronic illness. In two of the readings above, Clare and
Kudu used their faith and spirituality to help them cope with their losses.
Clare also used meditation for healing, a growing trend in intervention for
those suffering a loss.
Practitioners can also help midlife adults work through their losses by
validating deaths that may be disenfranchised (such as loss of a close cousin),
helping them express their emotions and find meaning in their loss, and
developing continuing bonds. For midlife adults, the loss of a parent or a child
may mean losing significant socioemotional support from their spouses/
partners. Marital therapy can be suggested to strengthen interpersonal
communication.
A bereavement support group where adults can talk and cry with others
who have lost parents/children may be an excellent alternative or addition
to individual and marital/family intervention. Coifman and Bonanno (2010)
report that bereaved midlife adults suggest that emotional expression is only
one aspect of processing loss: clinical interventions focused on helping to mod-
ulate emotion—to move in and out of one’s grief—seem to help as well. This
supports the use of the dual process model of bereavement (Stroebe & Schut,
2010), focusing on the oscillation between restoration and loss orientations.Discussion Questions
- How is the loss of a parent different for a midlife adult than for a young
adult? - Why might unemployment be viewed as a maturational loss for midlife
adults? As a practitioner, how would you work with Kudu (case of job loss),
her husband, and her family? In thinking about policy issues, how can the
United States better serve families like Kudu’s? - As a practitioner, how would you work with Clare (divorce)? What is your
rationale and what theories of grief/loss inform your approach? How are
the issues of spousal death and divorce similar and different? How would
you work differently with Clare and Jean?