Definition
The term mourning describes a state of mind that occurs as a reaction to a distressing event. The distressing event is not further defined and can basically be understood differently by each person. Often losses of close persons, important relations or other blows of fate are reasons for grief for many humans.
The definition is subject to a certain variation and is culturally shaped. According to various psychoanalytical and social analytical models, the experience of grief is described as a process that goes through different phases. These phases are called phases of mourning.
Depending on the theorist the phases are defined differently. There are three main models of mourning phases, each named after the person who defined it. In detail these are the phases according to Kübler Ross, the phases according to Kast and finally the phases according to Yorick Spiegel.
Causes for the phases
The question of the causes of the phases of mourning is very difficult to answer. It requires profound psychoanalytical and psychological knowledge as well as a distinctive competence in the analysis of social behavior in order to be able to find out sufficient causes. In addition, the phases of mourning are defined differently, so that slightly different mechanisms of origin can be defined in each case.
Put simply, the phases of mourning can be imagined as a reaction to a distressing event. Hypothetically, one can assume the death of a loved one. Many conscious and unconscious confrontations of the psyche with the experience evoke reactions that manifest themselves in different ways during the mourning phases.
Social aspects also play an important role. In many situations of mourning, mourners have to redefine their role in the social structure and go through complex adaptation mechanisms, which often arise more or less consciously. Assuming a young mother loses the father of her children in a tragic accident, she finds herself not only a widow but also a single mother. She must now redefine her social role. Such processes also contribute to the development of the mourning phases.
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