| Palliative care
include the management of grief and bereavement. Careful and
honest consideration of the family members during the patient's
terminal illness will lessen grieving. The involvement of a social
worker, psychologist or psychiatrist in a palliative care team
will help predict bereavement problems and provide support and
treatment. Bereavement is the loss
of a close or loved person. Bereavement reactions are the
psychological, physiological and behavioural reactions to the
loss.
Grief is the psychological response or
feelings resulting from to the loss.
Mourning is the social expression of grief
and includes the mourning rituals, and behaviours that are
specific to each culture and religion.
In the majority of cases, the support of
the family and friends, and time, are all that are required for
successful bereavement. A person working in palliative care needs
to know what constitutes normal and abnormal bereavement, so that
help and counselling can be provided. However, there are so many
religious, cultural and individual variations that the definition
of what is normal or abnormal is difficult.
If the bereaved request help, they are
referred to an experienced grief counsellor or psychiatrist.
Bereavement self help groups may also be useful. Where services
and resources are available, individuals and families at high risk
of abnormal bereavement may benefit from preventive interventions.
One example of high risk group is children especially those of
school age. Bereavement reactions in children may take the form of
behavioural or disciplinary problems and physical and somatic
problems are common. Insecurity, anger and guilt occur as well.
Follow-up of bereaved children suggest an increase in maladaptive
behaviour that may interfere with social and academic performance.
If you have questions related to this article you may e-mail me
at doctor@soontongkiong.com quoting the contents of the article.
About the author
DR SOON is a medical practitioner. He holds four degrees. MBBS
(University of Malaya), MBA (University of East Asia), LLB (Hons)
(University of Wolverhampton), Master of Medicine (Edith Cowan
University
:
Dr SOON is the owner of AskMyVisitor.com and MyScriptDoctor.com
where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information
on
many medical, health and lifestyle topics. |
