CT Grief & Bereavement Theory 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Erich Lindemann's 1944 landmark study on acute grief was based primarily on survivors of:
- World War II bombings
- The Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire (Correct answer)
- The 1918 influenza pandemic
- The Hindenburg disaster
Correct answer: The Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire
Lindemann's foundational grief research was based on his work with survivors and bereaved families from the 1942 Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston.
Question 2: According to George Bonanno's research, the most common trajectory following bereavement in adults is:
- Chronic grief lasting several years
- Recovery after an initial grief period
- Resilience with minimal disruption (Correct answer)
- Delayed grief emerging months later
Correct answer: Resilience with minimal disruption
Bonanno's research consistently found that resilience — characterized by relatively stable functioning — is the most common response to loss in adults.
Question 3: The 'continuing bonds' theory, developed by Klass, Silverman, and Nickman, challenged which earlier grief assumption?
- Grief must be openly expressed to resolve
- The goal of mourning is to sever ties with the deceased (Correct answer)
- Grief follows predictable universal stages
- Children grieve differently than adults
Correct answer: The goal of mourning is to sever ties with the deceased
Continuing bonds theory challenged Freud's model that grief requires detaching libido from the lost object; instead, maintaining an ongoing relationship with the deceased is normal and adaptive.
Question 4: In the context of disenfranchised grief, which loss is MOST likely to go unrecognized by society?
- Death of a spouse after 40 years of marriage
- Death of a miscarried fetus at 10 weeks (Correct answer)
- Death of a parent in a hospice setting
- Death of a sibling in a car accident
Correct answer: Death of a miscarried fetus at 10 weeks
Doka identified early pregnancy loss as a paradigmatic example of disenfranchised grief because social norms often minimize or deny the significance of this loss.
Question 5: Worden's Task IV, updated in later editions, is best described as:
- Finding meaning in the loss
- Withdrawing emotional energy from the deceased
- Finding an enduring connection while embarking on a new life (Correct answer)
- Completing unfinished business with the deceased
Correct answer: Finding an enduring connection while embarking on a new life
Worden revised Task IV from 'withdrawing emotional energy' to 'finding an enduring connection with the deceased while embarking on a new life,' reflecting continuing bonds theory.
Question 6: The 'trajectory of grief' concept proposed by Bonanno identifies which four distinct patterns?
- Numbing, yearning, despair, recovery
- Resilience, recovery, chronic grief, delayed grief (Correct answer)
- Anticipatory, acute, chronic, absent grief
- Normal, complicated, traumatic, masked grief
Correct answer: Resilience, recovery, chronic grief, delayed grief
Bonanno identified four empirically derived grief trajectories: resilience, recovery, chronic grief, and delayed grief, challenging stage-based models.
Question 7: When a bereaved person oscillates between confronting grief and taking respite from it, this is best explained by:
- Worden's Task Model
- Bowlby's Attachment Phases
- The Dual Process Model (Correct answer)
- Kübler-Ross's Stage Theory
Correct answer: The Dual Process Model
The Dual Process Model by Stroebe and Schut specifically describes oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping as the healthy adaptive mechanism in bereavement.
CT Grief & Bereavement Theory 3
Erich Lindemann's 1944 landmark study on acute grief was based primarily on survivors of: