Understanding Childhood Grief: A Guide to Healthy Mourning in Children
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Childhood grief, mourning process, death representation, bereaved child, psychological development, psychic development, healthy grief, child psychoanalysis, grief in children, death understanding, child mental health, bereavement support, Kübler-Ross Elisabeth, child psychological processes, death conception, child development stages, mourning strategies, child anxiety, death anxiety, child bereavement companion, child psychoanalytic theory, child death experience, child mourning stages, child grief support, child mental health professionals, child traumatic bereavement, pathological bereavement, infantile psychological development, child death taboo, child death representation, adult support for child grief, child attachment bond, child loss experience, child grief process, child healthy mourning, child age-specific death understanding
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Discover how children navigate the complex experience of grief and mourning. Learn about the psychological processes involved and the importance of professional support for healthy development. Understand how children's perception of death evolves with age, from 3 to 10 years old, and the challenges they face in coping with loss. Find out how a supportive environment and bereavement companions can help children process their emotions and develop a mature understanding of death.
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[...] One can cite as an example the catharsis with the anger machine. This activity has as its main objective the release of the child in their experience of mourning. It is Nicole Spesny who is behind this initiative. She then helps the child to find tactics to employ the reactions generated by the child when it is invaded by anger and powerlessness in a constructive way. Indeed, for this activity, the child can either draw a 'anger machine' equipped with valves or another illustrative image of their situation. [...]
[...] The desire for suicide then expresses itself under the pretext of joining the loved one. The child therefore enters a phase of psychological decompensation, which is characterized by a great psychological imbalance. In fact, Marie-Frédérique Bacqué indicates: 'The complications of grief are related to time and ( . ) to the brutality of the loss, the injustice of a premature death. Grief can be blocked at several levels.' The complications of grief, PUF, p.42) The first blockage attributed to grief is when the child understands its meaning and cannot overcome it, it is a matter of 'traumatic grief'. [...]
[...] The grieving process in children manifests exactly as it does in adults. However, given their young age, it presents certain peculiarities specific to their actions and development. As we mentioned earlier, at first, the child is in a momentary inability to be aware of what happens after the shock they have experienced. They are therefore unable to use their reflection to analyze their situation for a duration ranging from a few minutes to a few days. They are entirely stunned by the announcement or knowledge of the loss of the person they cherish. [...]
[...] He determined four axes of activity including 'accept the reality of the loss, work the pain of mourning, adapt to a world without the deceased person, create a durable connection with the deceased person while engaging in a new life.', (Worden W., (1983) Grief Counseling and grief therapy: A Handbook for the mental health practitioner, editor: Tavistock Publications Ltd.) However, it sometimes happens that other children are unable to overcome their grief because they are unable to live it in a healthy way. II. The difficulty experienced by bereaved children II.1. The difficulty experienced from three to four years old In fact, we can observe that at the age of three, the child has not yet intellectually understood the concept of death. This has a negative impact on their psychosomatic balance. [...]
[...] Moreover, understood as a 'state of emotional shock generated by the loss of a loved one', mourning is also painful affective state caused by the loss of a loved one' (Marie Frédérique Bacqué What is mourning?, Collection 'Que sais-je?'). In addition, it also refers to the time of sorrow that follows the departure of the loved one. For children who are unable to overcome this 'state of emotional shock' caused by grief, if it is not well controlled, it risks overwhelming them, potentially generating another sadness, this time dreadful and painful, that cannot be consoled. Unlike adults, the grieving process in children is somewhat specific. [...]
