Loss is something we all share and experience in life. There are different types of loss which affect our everyday lives, emotions and relationships. If our attachment is strong then we will feel stronger emotions. The complexity of our attachment will also dictate how we move through our grief.
Grief has several components: physical, behavioural, emotional, mental, social and spiritual. Looking at an anticipated death for example when someone is terminally ill planning can be made well in advance of the loss happening. We may then experience anticipatory grief. This type of grief gives the bereaved an opportunity to gain closure. The bereaved would still feel emotions of fear, anger, guilt, sadness, blame and possibly denial. …show more content…

I can relate John Bowlby (1986) theory in the above example of lost independence. Bowlby describes loss in three phases Protest, Disorganisation and Restructuring. The first phase Protest is made of emotions such as sadness, shock and disbelief. Appetite and sleep can also be disturbed at this stage according to Bowlby. In the incidence I spoke of the boy displayed these emotions. During the second stage disorganisation signs of despair, depression and withdrawal become apparent. In the incidence above the boy had stopped being social and was finding it difficult to sustain relationships with people in his life he was portraying social isolation. This took him onto Bowlby’s third stage restructuring where new levels of attachment are being formed and new interests, The boy developed trust and new relationships with his carers and starts to function in his new life.
I am going to use Dr E Kubler Ross (1969) five stage model in relation to anticipated death. Dr Ross does state not everyone who experiences a life threatening or a life changing event goes through all five stages. Reactions to illness, death or losses are unique to such individual, The five stages in the Kubler-Ross Model is Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Denial, when an individual maybe says things are going to be all right and pretend they are ok with the news of finding out they have a terminal