DOCSLIB.ORG

The Lived Experience of Being Born Into Grief

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Lived Experience of Being Born Into Grief The lived experience of being born into grief Michelle Holt A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) 2018 School of Public Health and Psychosocial Studies Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences Primary Supervisor: Dr Jacqueline Feather Abstract This study explores the meaning of the lived experience of being born into grief. Using a phenomenological hermeneutic methodology, informed by the writings of Martin Heidegger [1889-1976] and Hans-George Gadamer [1900-2002], this research provides an understanding of the lived experience of having been a baby when one or both parents were grieving (born into grief). The review of the literature identified physical effects of being born when a mother was stressed but no literature was found which discussed emotional effects that a baby may incur due to stress or grief of a parent. The notion of grief was explored and literature pertaining to early childhood adversity reviewed as a possible resource for bringing light to how it may be for babies born into grief. The literature indicated that possible long term complications such as rebellious behaviour, poor relationships, poor mental and physical health, could be a result of early adversity. The literature on understanding effects of grief from a conceptual perspective, rather than from the lived experience perspective, provided a platform for this study. In this study nine New Zealand participants told their stories about the grief situation they were born into and how they thought it had affected them. Data were gathered in the form of semi structured interviews which were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed by identifying key themes and engaging in a hermeneutic thinking process derived from the work of Heidegger and Gadamer, and influenced by my own training and experience as a counsellor. Reading, thinking, writing and redoing reading, thinking, and writing was the method used to bring new understanding to the data. The findings of this thesis suggested that the experience of i being born into grief was complex and tended to remain hidden in the everydayness and taken-for-grantedness of people’s lives. Four themes were identified; Taken-for- granted-Being-in-the-everyday, Vulnerability-in-the-everyday, Being-with Connectedness, and Wondering. Taken-for-grantedness-in-the-everyday was about how thought was not given to how parents grief may have affected participants as babies, and how this may have had lifelong implications. Vulnerability-in-the-everydayness showed as ways that participants’ lives had become vulnerable as a result of their birth situation. Being-with Connectedness was in response to connections or lack of connections of people, culture, and things that participants identified as being the way they were, possibly as a result of being born into grief. Being-with-wondering was as a result of wondering how life may have been different if they had not been exposed to the grief of their parents as babies. This study brings to the fore how being born into grief was for the participants and how having this experience may alter, influence, or implicate people’s lives. Each of these facets of understanding were interwoven and overlapped as parts that formed a whole that was bigger than the sum of the parts. The findings of the study have implications for health professional practice, service providers, and research. Being born into grief could be a phenomenon that accounts for unexplained childhood, adolescent and adult behavioural issues, sadness, stress, anxiety, ill physical or ill mental health, later in life. ii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................. viii Attestation of Authorship .................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ x Glossary of Māori terms ................................................................................................. xii Chapter One: Introduction................................................................................................ 13 Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................... 14 Research Benefits ......................................................................................................... 17 Selecting the Methodology ........................................................................................... 19 Pre-understandings and Horizons ................................................................................. 22 The Researcher and the Research Process .................................................................... 24 My Career ..................................................................................................................... 27 Counselling in Private Practice ................................................................................. 28 Educating the Counsellors ........................................................................................ 29 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 29 Structure of the Thesis .................................................................................................. 30 Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................... 32 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 32 Grief .............................................................................................................................. 34 Etymology and Definition of Grief ........................................................................... 34 Psychological Concepts and Theories of Grief from a Western Perspective ............... 38 How We Understand Grief from an Adult Perspective ............................................ 38 Stages of Grief .......................................................................................................... 40 Disenfranchised Grief ............................................................................................... 43 Vicarious Trauma ..................................................................................................... 44 Complicated or Complex Grief ................................................................................ 44 Impact of Complicated Grief .................................................................................... 45 Understanding Grief from a Child’s Perspective ...................................................... 47 Developmental Stages and Grief .............................................................................. 49 Impact of Grief for a Child ....................................................................................... 51 Early Adversity and Possible Implications .................................................................. 52 iii Babies’ and Children’s Early Exposure to Adverse Events ..................................... 54 The Possible Impact of Grief on Neurological Development................................... 54 The Possible Impact of Lack of Attachment and How it Impacts Relationships ..... 59 Mirroring Behaviour ................................................................................................. 62 Implications for Maladaptive Behaviour .................................................................. 65 Implications for Health ............................................................................................. 67 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 69 Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................... 74 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 74 Epistemology and Ontology ......................................................................................... 75 Philosophical Underpinnings........................................................................................ 76 Heidegger the Person .................................................................................................... 78 Phenomenology ............................................................................................................ 80 Hermeneutic Phenomenology (Gadamer and Heidegger) ............................................ 81 Heidegger’s Meaning of ‘Being’ .................................................................................. 85 Being-in-the-world and Dasein .................................................................................... 86 Thrownness .................................................................................................................. 89 Horizon ........................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Perceived Social Rank, Social Expectation, Shame and General Emotionality Within Psychopathy
    Perceived social rank, social expectation, shame and general emotionality within psychopathy Sarah Keen D. Clin.Psy. Thesis (Volume 1), 2008 University College London UMI Number: U591545 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U591545 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Overview Within the psychological literature, the self-conscious emotion of shame is proving to be an area of growing interest. This thesis addresses the application of this emotion, as well as self and social evaluative processes, to our understanding of offenders, specifically those high in psychopathic traits. Part 1 reviews the literature concerning emotionality within psychopathy, in order to assess the capabilities, as well as the deficits that people with psychopathic traits demonstrate. Emotions classified as ‘moral’ or ‘self-conscious’, namely empathy, sympathy, guilt, remorse, shame, embarrassment and pride, are investigated. From the review it is clear that psychopaths are not the truly unemotional individuals that they are commonly portrayed as being, but instead experience many emotions to varying degrees. This paper concludes by highlighting possible areas for further exploration and research.
    [Show full text]
  • Negative Emotions, Resilience and Mindfulness in Well-Being
    Psychology and Behavioral Science International Journal ISSN 2474-7688 Research Article Psychol Behav Sci Int J Volume 13 Issue 2 - September 2019 Copyright © All rights are reserved by James Collard DOI: 10.19080/PBSIJ.2019.13.555857 The Role of Functional and Dysfunctional Negative Emotions, Resilience and Mindfulness in Well-Being B Shahzad and J Collard* School of Psychology, The Cairnmillar Institute, Australia Submission: August 01, 2019; Published: September 09, 2019 *Corresponding author: James Collard, School of Psychology, The Cairnmillar Institute, Melbourne, Australia Abstract This study sets out to investigate the binary model of emotions. It explores the relationships between suggested functional negative emotions and dysfunctional negative emotions with mindfulness, resilience, and well-being. The study was based on a sample of 104 adult participants. Results indicated that participants differentiated between proposed functional and dysfunctional negative emotion categories. Results of the structural equation modelling (SEM) demonstrated that functional negative emotions and dysfunctional negative emotions uniquely contributed to reduced well-being. The relationship of functional negative emotions to well-being was mediated by participants’ resilience levels. The relationship of dysfunctional negative emotions to well-being was mediated by participants’ resilience and mindfulness levels. SEM results indicated partial mediation, as the direct effect of functional and dysfunctional negative emotions on well-being was still
    [Show full text]
  • The Effect of Opioids on Emotional Reactivity
    The Effect of Opioids on Emotional Reactivity Steven M. Savvas, BHSc (Hons) Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences University of Adelaide August, 2013 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy i Steven M. Savvas, PhD Thesis, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................................... xi Declaration ............................................................................................................................ xiii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 OPIOIDS AND OPIOID MAINTENANCE TREATMENT ...................................... 1 1.1.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPIOIDS .......................................................................... 1 1.1.2 OPIOID RECEPTORS ............................................................................................ 1 1.1.3 ADAPTATION TO OPIOIDS.................................................................................. 3 1.1.3.1 Tolerance ........................................................................................................ 4 1.1.3.2 Withdrawal ...................................................................................................... 4 1.1.3.3 Dependence
    [Show full text]
  • Identifying Expressions of Emotions and Their Stimuli in Text
    Identifying Expressions of Emotions and Their Stimuli in Text by Diman Ghazi Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty of Engineering University of Ottawa c Diman Ghazi, Ottawa, Canada, 2016 Abstract Emotions are among the most pervasive aspects of human experience. They have long been of interest to social and behavioural sciences. Recently, emotions have attracted the attention of researchers in computer science and particularly in computational linguistics. Computational approaches to emotion analysis have also focused on various emotion modalities, but there is less effort in the direction of automatic recognition of the emotion expressed. Although some past work has addressed detecting emotions, detecting why an emotion arises is ignored. In this work, we explore the task of classifying texts automatically by the emotions expressed, as well as detecting the reason why a particular emotion is felt. We believe there is still a large gap between the theoretical research on emotions in psy- chology and emotion studies in computational linguistics. In our research, we try to fill this gap by considering both theoretical and computational aspects of emotions. Starting with a general explanation of emotion and emotion causes from the psychological and cognitive perspective, we clarify the definition that we base our work on. We explain what is feasible in the scope of text and what is practically doable based on the current NLP techniques and tools. This work is organized in two parts: first part on Emotion Expression and the second part on Emotion Stimulus.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Work of Pre-Abortion Counselors
    Understanding the Work of Pre-abortion Counselors A dissertation presented to the faculty of The Patton College of Education of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Jennifer M. Conte December 2013 © 2013 Jennifer M. Conte: All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Understanding the Work of Pre-abortion Counselors by JENNIFER M. CONTE has been approved for the Department of Counseling and Higher Education and The Patton College of Education by Yegan Pillay Associate Professor of Counseling and Higher Education Renée A. Middleton Dean, The Patton College of Education 3 Abstract CONTE, JENNIFER M., Ph.D., December 2013, Counselor Education Understanding the Work of Pre-abortion Counselors Director of Dissertation: Yegan Pillay This qualitative study examined the experiences of individuals who work in abortion clinics as pre-abortion counselors. Interviewing was the primary method of inquiry. Although information regarding post-abortion distress is documented in the literature, pre-abortion counseling is rarely found in the literature. This study sought to fill a void in the literature by seeking to understand the experience of pre-abortion counselors. The documented experiences shared several themes such as a love for their job, having a non-judgmental attitude, and having a previous interest in reproductive health care. 4 Preface In qualitative methodology, the researcher is the instrument (Patton, 2002). Therefore, it is important to understand the lenses through which I am examining the phenomena of pre-abortion counseling. The vantage point that I offer is influenced by my experiences as a pre-abortion counselor. I have considered myself to be pro-choice ever since I can remember thinking about the topic of abortion.
    [Show full text]
  • Reduced Emotional Empathy in Adults with Subclinical ADHD Groen, Y.; Den Heijer, A.E.; Fuermaier, A.B.M.; Althaus, M.; Tucha, O
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Groningen University of Groningen Reduced emotional empathy in adults with subclinical ADHD Groen, Y.; den Heijer, A.E.; Fuermaier, A.B.M.; Althaus, M.; Tucha, O. Published in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders DOI: 10.1007/s12402-017-0236-7 IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2018 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Groen, Y., den Heijer, A. E., Fuermaier, A. B. M., Althaus, M., & Tucha, O. (2018). Reduced emotional empathy in adults with subclinical ADHD: Evidence from the empathy and systemizing quotient. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 10(2), 141–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-017-0236-7 Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.
    [Show full text]
  • At Least 13 Dimensions Organize Subjective Experiences Associated with Music Across Different Cultures
    What music makes us feel: At least 13 dimensions organize subjective experiences associated with music across different cultures Alan S. Cowena,1,2, Xia Fangb,c,1, Disa Sauterb, and Dacher Keltnera aDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; bDepartment of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1001 NK Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and cDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada Edited by Dale Purves, Duke University, Durham, NC, and approved December 9, 2019 (received for review June 25, 2019) What is the nature of the feelings evoked by music? We investi- people hear a moving or ebullient piece of music, do particular gated how people represent the subjective experiences associated feelings—e.g., “sad,”“fearful,”“dreamy”—constitute the foun- with Western and Chinese music and the form in which these dation of their experience? Or are such feelings constructed representational processes are preserved across different cultural from more general affective features such as valence (pleasant vs. groups. US (n = 1,591) and Chinese (n = 1,258) participants listened unpleasant) and arousal (9, 11–15)? The answers to these to 2,168 music samples and reported on the specific feelings (e.g., questions not only illuminate the nature of how music elicits “ ”“ ” angry, dreamy ) or broad affective features (e.g., valence, subjective experiences, but also can inform claims about how the arousal) that they made individuals feel. Using large-scale statisti- brain represents our feelings (8, 15), how infants learn to rec- cal tools, we uncovered 13 distinct types of subjective experience ognize feelings in themselves and others (16), the extent to which associated with music in both cultures.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Cultural Values and Chinese Language Pedagogy
    CHINESE CULTURAL VALUES AND CHINESE LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Bo Zhu, M.A. The Ohio State University Master’s Examination Committee Approved by Dr. Galal Walker, Adviser Dr. Mari Noda ________________________________ Adviser Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures Copyright @ 2008 Bo Zhu ABSTRACT Cultural values hold great control on people’s social behaviors. To become culturally competent, it is important for second language learners to understand primary cultural values in the target culture and to behave in accordance with those values. Cultural themes are the behavioral norms that people share in a society in pursuit of cultural values, which help learners relate what they learn to do with cultural values. The purpose of this study is to identify pedagogical cultural values and cultural themes in Chinese language education and propose a performance-based language curriculum, which integrates cultural values and cultural themes into language pedagogy. There are mainly three research questions discussed. First, what are the primary components in the Chinese cultural value system? Second, how is a cultural value manifest and managed in social behaviors? Third, how can a performance-based language curriculum integrate cultural values and cultural themes? This thesis analyzes the nature of cultural values and the components of Chinese cultural value system, with goals to identify pedagogical cultural values in Chinese language education. Seven cultural values are selected based on proposed criteria as primary pedagogical cultural themes in Chinese language education.
    [Show full text]
  • Models of Forgiveness
    RT3335_half title page 4/24/06 12:58 PM Page 1 Forgiveness and Reconciliation RT3335.indb 2 4/28/06 11:32:56 AM RT3335_title page 4/24/06 12:57 PM Page 1 Forgiveness and Reconciliation Theory and Application Everett L. Worthington, Jr. New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business RT3335_Discl.fm Page 1 Wednesday, November 23, 2005 1:02 PM Published in 2006 by Published in Great Britain by Routledge Routledge Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue 2 Park Square New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10987654321 International Standard Book Number-10: 1-58391-333-5 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-58391-333-8 (Hardcover) Library of Congress Card Number 2005033905 No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Worthington, Everett L., 1946- Forgiveness and reconciliation : theory and application / Everett L. Worthington, Jr. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 1-58391-333-5 (hb : alk.
    [Show full text]
  • Essentials of Care for @Eople 3Iving in Shelter
    Shelter Health: Essentials of Care for eople iving in Shelter >en >raybill, MSW Deff Elivet, MA ational Health Care for the Homeless Council www.nhchc.org Shelter Health: Essentials of Care for eople iving in Shelter The ational Health are for the Homeless ouncil The ational Health Care for the Homeless Council began as an element of the -proect HCH demonstration program of the Robert Wood ohnson Foundation and the ew Memorial Trust. We are now over rganiational Members and over 00 individuals who provide care for homeless people throughout the country. ur rganiational members include grantees and subcontractors in the federal Health Care for the Homeless funding stream, members of the Respite Care roviders etwork, and others. Homeless and formerly homeless people who formally advise local HCH proects comprise the ational Consumer Advisory oard and participate in the governance of the ational Council. 4tatement of 5rinciples We recognie and believe that: ! homelessness is unacceptable ! every person has the right to adequate food, housing, clothing and health care ! all people have the right to participate in the decisions affecting their lives ! contemporary homelessness is the product of conscious social and economic policy decisions that have retreated from a commitment to insuring basic life necessities for all people ! the struggle to end homelessness and alleviate its consequences takes many forms including efforts to insure adequate housing, health care, and access to meaningful work. 7ission 4tatement The mission of the ational Council is to help bring about reform of the health care system to best serve the needs of people who are homeless, to work in alliance with others whose broader purpose is to eliminate homelessness, and to provide support to Council members.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anxious, the Furious, and the Annoyed Hidden Shame in the Academic Library
    the way I see it Erin McAfee The anxious, the furious, and the annoyed Hidden shame in the academic library n March 2018, my manuscript on library through the eyes of others, we are feeling the Ishame was published in College & Research shame affect. When we feel powerless, awk- Libraries.1 The paper’s focus is library anxi- ward, ridiculed, embarrassed, weird, strange, ety, but more accurately it is about the shared or humiliated, we are feeling manifestations experience of normal shame for both the of normal shame. librarian and the user. When shame is mis- identified as maladaptive behavior by both Shame’s role in the learning process the librarian and user, it results in alienation When Carol Kuhlthau developed a model of or conflict. When shame is identified by the the library research process, she discovered librarian as normal, it strengthens the rela- that students felt threatened within seconds tionship with the user. of a research project being assigned.3 Ab- According to scholars who study the sorbing new ideas and information requires shame affect, shame by itself is not a bad an awareness that one’s own knowledge thing. The problem is that most of our shame is either incorrect or lacking, therefore we is hidden.2 We hide shame behind vague must devalue our own knowledge if we language. When we do use the s-word, it are to accept new information. For many is narrowly defined. For example, library people, this threat or devaluation (normal anxiety is nothing more than library shame, shame) is embraced as a challenge.
    [Show full text]
  • Bi-Modal Annoyance Level Detection from Speech and Text
    Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural, Revista nº 61, septiembre de 2018, pp. 83-89 recibido 04-04-2018 revisado 29-04-2018 aceptado 04-05-2018 Bi-modal annoyance level detection from speech and text Detecci´ondel nivel de enfado mediante un sistema bi-modal basado en habla y texto Raquel Justo, Jon Irastorza, Saioa P´erez,M. In´esTorres Universidad del Pa´ısVasco UPV/EHU. Sarriena s/n. 48940 Leioa. Spain fraquel.justo,[email protected] Abstract: The main goal of this work is the identification of emotional hints from speech. Machine learning researchers have analysed sets of acoustic parameters as potential cues for the identification of discrete emotional categories or, alternatively, of the dimensions of emotions. However, the semantic information gathered in the text message associated to its utterance can also provide valuable information that can be helpful for emotion detection. In this work this information is included within the acoustic information leading to a better system performance. Moreover, it is noticeable the use of a corpus that include spontaneous emotions gathered in a realistic environment. It is well known that emotion expression depends not only on cultural factors but also on the individual and on the specific situation. Thus, the conclusions extracted from the present work can be more easily extrapolated to a real system than those obtained from a classical corpus with simulated emotions. Keywords: speech processing, semantic information, emotion detection on speech, annoyance tracking, machine learning Resumen: El principal objetivo de este trabajo es la detecci´onde cambios emo- cionales a partir del habla. Diferentes trabajos basados en aprendizaje autom´atico han analizado conjuntos de par´ametrosac´usticoscomo potenciales indicadores en la identificaci´onde categor´ıasemocionales discretas o en la identificaci´ondimensional de las emociones.
    [Show full text]