BMS Psychology of Grief Counseling 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best exemplifies 'complicated mourning' as described by Therese Rando?
- Crying at the grave site one year after the death
- Failure to acknowledge the loss combined with severely impaired daily functioning two years post-loss (Correct answer)
- Feeling sadness when encountering reminders of the deceased
- Attending a grief support group six months after the death
Correct answer: Failure to acknowledge the loss combined with severely impaired daily functioning two years post-loss
Rando described complicated mourning as a failure to progress through the 'R processes' of mourning, often evidenced by denial of the loss and significantly impaired functioning beyond normal timeframes.
Question 2: A funeral director is arranging services for a suicide death. Which approach is most appropriate when speaking with the bereaved family?
- Avoid all mention of how the death occurred to prevent further distress
- Follow the family's lead regarding how much they wish to discuss the manner of death (Correct answer)
- Immediately recommend a grief counselor specializing in suicide loss
- Reassure the family that suicide is God's plan to reduce guilt
Correct answer: Follow the family's lead regarding how much they wish to discuss the manner of death
Survivors of suicide loss have unique needs; the most respectful approach is following the family's lead about disclosure and discussing the death in terms they choose.
Question 3: In the context of children's grief, at what developmental stage do children typically begin to understand death as permanent, universal, and inevitable?
- Ages 2-3 (toddler stage)
- Ages 5-7 (early school age) (Correct answer)
- Ages 3-5 (preschool stage)
- Ages 13-18 (adolescence)
Correct answer: Ages 5-7 (early school age)
Between ages 5-7, children typically develop a mature understanding of death's three core concepts: permanence, universality, and inevitability.
Question 4: When a surviving family requests a viewing of a traumatically disfigured body, the funeral director's ethical responsibility is to:
- Refuse the viewing entirely to protect the family from distress
- Discuss the condition honestly, restore as much as possible, and support the family's informed decision (Correct answer)
- Allow viewing only if the family signs a liability waiver
- Require the family to consult a psychologist before the viewing
Correct answer: Discuss the condition honestly, restore as much as possible, and support the family's informed decision
Ethical practice requires honest communication about the body's condition while respecting family autonomy; restoration efforts should be made, and the family's informed decision should be supported.
Question 5: Which grief support approach has the strongest evidence base for bereaved individuals with Prolonged Grief Disorder?
- Grief debriefing sessions in the first 48 hours after death
- Complicated Grief Treatment (CGT) developed by Shear and colleagues (Correct answer)
- Mandatory participation in community grief support groups
- Pharmacological treatment as the sole intervention
Correct answer: Complicated Grief Treatment (CGT) developed by Shear and colleagues
Complicated Grief Treatment (CGT), developed by Katherine Shear, has the strongest evidence base for PGD, integrating elements of IPT and exposure-based techniques.
Question 6: A bereaved person states, 'I know he's gone, but sometimes I turn to tell him something and then I feel the loss all over again.' This experience is best described as:
- A hallucination requiring medical evaluation
- Grief waves or 'grief bursts' triggered by habitual behaviors (Correct answer)
- Denial of the reality of death
- A symptom of dissociative disorder
Correct answer: Grief waves or 'grief bursts' triggered by habitual behaviors
Grief waves or grief bursts are sudden, intense surges of grief triggered by habitual behaviors or reminders, and are a completely normal part of bereavement.
Question 7: The 'tasks of mourning' model is considered advantageous over stage models of grief primarily because:
- It provides a strict timeline for when grief should resolve
- It implies active participation by the bereaved rather than passive progression through stages (Correct answer)
- It was developed more recently than Kübler-Ross's model
- It applies only to adults over age 18
Correct answer: It implies active participation by the bereaved rather than passive progression through stages
Worden's tasks model empowers bereaved individuals by framing mourning as active work they engage in, rather than passive stages they must pass through on a fixed timeline.
BMS Psychology of Grief Counseling 5
Which of the following best exemplifies 'complicated mourning' as described by Therese Rando?