shermin roubenzadeh; Ali Reza Abedin
Volume 5, Issue 20 , December 2015, , Pages 187-202
Abstract
Losing a beloved person with whom one is deeplyinvolved is like falling into an abyss of infinity leading to an undesirablefeeling which in turn may cause mourning. The grief reactions differ fromperson to person depending on the circumstances of the occurred calamities,religious, social and cultural ...
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Losing a beloved person with whom one is deeplyinvolved is like falling into an abyss of infinity leading to an undesirablefeeling which in turn may cause mourning. The grief reactions differ fromperson to person depending on the circumstances of the occurred calamities,religious, social and cultural beliefs and in general the perceived meaning ofthe death for the bereaved. Adolescents are one of the vulnerable groups infacing the loss. Belongingness during adolescence is of an essence, as theadolescent seeks to shape ego identity in oneself. The grief process maynullify the personal assumptions regarding the world (spiritual assimilation),relations with others, and personal identity (inner world). Hence, it isindispensable to provide interventions for healing the wounds stemming from theloss. Among various approaches, play therapy is one of the best treatments forgrief in the juveniles. Play therapy is the process of making conscious andverbalization of the unconscious and the nonverbal issues. Sand tray therapy isa sort of play therapy which provides people an opportunity to expressthemselves in a creative and nonverbal way. Currently this kind of therapy isconsidered as an effective method to work with children and adolescents.However, despite the high rate of mortality in Iran, there is not enoughresearch conducted in this regard. In light of the great significance ofcultural differences in the resolution of grief, it is essential to evaluate avariety of theories effective in resolving this process in order to construct acustom-made protocol for sand tray therapy in Iranian population. Subsequently,25 volunteers, who had lost one of their close relatives between the previoustwo months to two years, were selected through convenient sampling as thesubjects of the study; they completed the Grief Experience Inventory, AdjectiveCheck List, and two researcher made questionnaires named Life Story and DreamMemo Questioners. Ultimately, a protocol to induce reduction of the severity ofgrief experience was developed via collecting data from the questionnaires(descriptive and inferential statistics) and the theories relevant to theresolution of the grief process
