A 45-year-old widow,who is being seen in a mental health clinic for clinical depression and alcohol dependency,lost her husband and her son in a boating accident 10 months earlier,and has become increasingly despondent and withdrawn.She verbalizes that she feels overwhelmed by her loss.Her daughter urged her mother to seek help.Which type of complicated grief best explains Eleanor's behavior?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

People having an exaggerated grief response are overwhelmed by their loss,have difficulties functioning,and display significant behavioral dysfunction.Chronic grief occurs when the active acute mourning experienced in normal grief reactions does not decrease and continues over long periods of time.When people consciously or unconsciously avoid the pain of loss and do not experience common grief reactions at the time of the loss,they have a delayed grief reaction.Masked grief occurs after a significant loss in which some people are unable to recognize that the behaviors making normal functioning difficult are a result of their loss.For example,a person who loses a pet develops changes in sleeping patterns but does not see the connection between the two events.

A 45-Year-Old Widow,who Is Being Seen in a Mental Health