The Nature of Grief: The Evolution and Psychology of Reactions to Loss

by Archer,John

• ISBN13: 9780415178587
• ISBN10: 0415178584
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-01-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The Nature of Grief is a provocative new study on the evolution of grief. Most literature on the topic regards grief either as a psychiatric disorder or illness to be cured. In contrast to this, John Archer shows that grief is a natrual reaction to losses of many sorts, even to the death of a pet, and he proves this by bringing together material from evolutionary psychology, ethology and experimental psychology.This innovative new work will be required reading for developmental and clinical psychologists and all those in the caring professions.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	x
Preface	xii
Acknowledgements	xiv
Introduction: what is grief?	1	(11)
Approaches to the understanding of grief	1	(3)
Grief as a product of natural selection	4	(2)
Grief from the viewpoint of ethology	6	(1)
Grief as a psychological process	7	(2)
An outline of the book	9	(3)
The historical background to grief research	12	(16)
Pre-1900 accounts of grief	12	(2)
Shand's Foundations of Character	14	(2)
Freud's Mourning and Melancholia	16	(1)
Early twentieth-century studies of grief	17	(1)
The Coconut Grove fire study	18	(1)
British studies of community samples, 1958--65	19	(1)
Parkes' interview studies	20	(1)
Questionnaire measures of grief	21	(2)
Established beliefs about the grief process	23	(1)
The stage or phase view of grief	24	(2)
Conclusions	26	(2)
Accounts of grief from other sources	28	(18)
Introduction	28	(1)
Historical sources	28	(3)
Ethnographic sources	31	(4)
Grief in literature, religion and biography	35	(4)
Grief in film	39	(1)
Grief in the visual arts	40	(2)
Grief in music	42	(3)
Conclusions	45	(1)
The biological context of grief	46	(20)
Introduction	46	(1)
Attachment theory	46	(3)
Reactions to separation and death in children	49	(3)
Is grief universal in humans?	52	(2)
Grief in animals	54	(3)
A two-process theory of grief	57	(2)
The function of grief	59	(5)
Conclusions	64	(2)
The grief process: an analytic approach	66	(26)
Introduction	66	(1)
Sources of information about grief	67	(1)
Numbness and disbelief	68	(2)
Anger and aggression	70	(2)
Guilt, self-blame and self-injury	72	(2)
Distress and anxiety	74	(2)
Yearning and preoccupation	76	(3)
Illusions, hallucinations and ghosts	79	(2)
Anniversaries and reminders	81	(2)
The urge to search	83	(3)
Mitigating or avoiding grief	86	(1)
Identification	87	(2)
Changes in self-concept	89	(1)
Hopelessness and depression	89	(2)
Conclusions	91	(1)
The grief process: holistic views	92	(16)
Introduction	92	(1)
Grief as an intervening variable	93	(4)
Grief as a behavioural system	97	(1)
The stage or phase view of grief and evidence for changes over time	97	(3)
A behaviourally based view of grief	100	(4)
The Dual-Process Model of grief	104	(2)
Conclusions	106	(2)
The resolution of grief	108	(22)
Introduction	108	(2)
What is the resolution of grief?	110	(1)
Variations in the time-course of grief	111	(4)
The `tasks of grief'	115	(4)
The concept of grief work	119	(6)
Can a new relationship resolve grief?	125	(3)
Conclusions	128	(2)
The mental processes of grief	130	(20)
Introduction	130	(1)
Hallucinations	130	(1)
Slips of action	131	(1)
Intrusive thoughts	132	(2)
Counterfactuals	134	(1)
Suppression and distraction as strategies for coping with unwanted thoughts	135	(4)
Causal attributions: self-blame and blaming others	139	(2)
Blame and resolution	141	(2)
Perceived control	143	(2)
Hardiness	145	(1)
Purpose in life	146	(1)
Conclusions	147	(3)
An evolutionary view of individual differences in grief	150	(15)
Introduction	150	(1)
Kinship and mutual benefit	151	(2)
Age	153	(2)
Sex	155	(1)
Other principles	156	(1)
How should evolutionary principles be applied to individual differences in grief?	157	(3)
Applications of natural selection to individual differences in grief	160	(4)
Conclusions	164	(1)
The relationship with the deceased	165	(14)
Introduction	165	(1)
The general link between attachment and grief	166	(2)
Dependency	168	(2)
Ambivalence and conflict	170	(2)
Attachment styles	172	(3)
An evolutionary approach to attachment styles	175	(2)
Attachment-based and evolutionary views of individual differences	177	(2)
Loss of a son or daughter	179	(27)
Introduction	179	(4)
Miscarriage	183	(4)
Induced abortion	187	(4)
Stillbirth	191	(3)
Perinatal death	194	(3)
Sudden infant death	197	(2)
Death of a child	199	(2)
Death of an adult son or daughter	201	(3)
Conclusions	204	(2)
Death of a relative or friend	206	(26)
Introduction	206	(1)
Death of a parent during childhood	207	(6)
Death of a parent during adolescence or young adulthood	213	(1)
Death of a parent during adulthood	214	(1)
Death of a grandchild	215	(2)
Sibling death	217	(2)
Death of a friend	219	(3)
Grieving for an `unrecognised' partner	222	(3)
Death of a princess and other public figures	225	(1)
Loss of a non-human companion	226	(4)
Conclusions	230	(2)
The influence of the age and sex of the bereaved	232	(17)
Introduction	232	(2)
Is grief greater at younger than older ages?	234	(2)
Other features of grief at older ages	236	(2)
Sex differences in reactions to marital bereavement	238	(3)
Coping strategies of men and women	241	(3)
Sex differences in parental grief	244	(2)
Do differences in grieving produce marital problems?	246	(1)
Conclusions	247	(2)
Conclusions	249	(7)
The process of grief	249	(3)
Individual differences	252	(4)
References	256	(41)
Author index	297	(10)
Subject index	307