8 Session Group

Therapy Plan.
Presenting Issue:
Erike Apolinar
Loss
Jimmy Duran
Martha Singh

Introduction
For most of the 20th Century, bereavement
was
understood
in
quintessentially
modern terms as a process of letting go
of ones attachment to the deceased
person, moving on with ones life, and
gradually recovering recovering from the
depression occasioned by the loss so as
to permit a return to normal behavior.
(Neimeyer, 2001 p. 2)

The Issue
Loss could subsume a welter of human
experiences,
including
bereavement,
relationship dissolution, job loss, natural
catastrophe, sexual assault, geographic
displacement, physical illness, role
definition, interpersonal violence, and
political torture, to name just a few

Freuds Mourning Theory

The testing of reality, having shown that
the loved object no longer exists, requires
forthwith that the libido shall be withdrawn
from its attachment to the object. Against
this demand a struggle of course arises- it
may be universally observed that man
never willingly abandons a libido-position,
not even when a substitute is already
beckoning to him

Freuds Mourning Theory (cont)

The normal outcome is that deference for
reality gains the day. Nevertheless its
behest cannot be at once obeyed. The
task is carried out bit by bit, under great
expense of time and cathartic energy,
while all the time the existence of the lost
object is continued in the mind

Freuds Mourning Theory (cont)

Each single one of the memories and
hopes which bound the libido to the object
is brought up and hyper-cathected,, and
the detachment of the libido from it is
accomplished When the work of
mourning is complete the ego becomes
free and uninhibited again

Freuds Mourning Theory (cont)

It may be that the identification is the sole
condition under which the Id can give up
its objects. The bereaved person effects a
temporary introjection of the loved person.
Its main purpose is to preserve the
persons relation with the lost object.

Complicated VS. Uncomplicated

Symptomatic manifestation
Universal phases or road map
Particular experience
Emphasis in emotions rather than
meaning and action
Private VS. Relational
The continuity of symbolic bonds: Loving
in absence

Emphasis
Greater awareness of the implications of
major loss for the individuals sense of
identity, often necessitating deep revisions
in his/her self-definition
Increased appreciation of the possibility of
life-enhancing post-traumatic growth as
one integrates the lessons of loss

Emphasis
A broadened focus not only on the experience
of individual survivors but also on the patterns
and processes by which loss is negotiated in
families and wider social contexts
Meaning reconstruction in response to loss as
the central process in grieving
The tension between conserving and
relinquishing a world of meanings undercut by
the loss of a defining attachment

Beyond decathexis
Emphasis on the need to detach form the
lost object has obscured another aspect of
the work of mourning, which is to repair
the natural disruption to the inner selfother relationship caused by the actual
loss This is the task called creating
continuity

The resolution
Grief is resolved through the creation of a
loving, growing relationship with (the
dead) lost object that recognizes the new
psychological and/or spiritual dimensions
of the relationship. It serves the need to
preserve attachment to the lost (person)
object, and the importance of securing a
sense of meaningful relationship, which
transcends loss.

Group Design
The person is not the problem, the problem is
the problem
Narrative therapy approach
Help the client externalize and deconstruct the
problem and to identify preferred outcomes as
well about procedures for thickening the clients
new story of her or his relationship to the
problem

Narrative therapy
Bandler and Grinder
Constructivist approach
Postmodern
Greimas and Ramos
Minuchin and DeShazer

Group Design
8 Session Formal Introductory Design
Admission: Any adult who has suffered a
loss that is affecting them negatively in the
present.
Sorting: Death of family member, chronic
illness, relationship loss. 8 to 10 clients
per group
Objective: Help initiate the process of
creating continuity

Group Design
Co-facilitated
Sessions to be held once every two weeks
for up to three hours
The group includes check in, formal
activity, and discussion, with a selfassigned homework for the week

Session 1
Getting to know each other
Introduction of group
Ground rules
Group layout
Members introduction
Activity: Past, Present, and Future Self
Discussion
Assigning first homework: The group journal

Session 2
Starting to write my history
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: Shattered beliefs
Discussion
Assignment of weeks homework by each
member

Session 3
This is who I am?
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: Two letters
Discussion
Assignment of weeks homework by each
member

Session 4
This is who I am?
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: Negative and positive timelines
Discussion
Assignment of weeks homework by each
member

Session 5
The positive lessons of loss
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: Before and After
Discussion
Assignment of weeks homework by each
member

Session 6
Loving in absence
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: The history with the happy ending
Discussion
Assignment of weeks homework by each
member

Session 7
Loving in absence
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: Their presence
Discussion
Assignment of weeks homework by each
member

Session 8
Loving in absence
Check in
Doubts and concerns from last week and/or
homework
Activity: Sharing my history
Discussion
Assignment of continuing homework by each
member

Session 9 and beyond

Loving in absence
Check in
Free form psychotherapeutic group

Questions
Questions, doubts, concerns????
Thank you for your attention
Please help us do our group activity
Think about the way loss feels, and how it
is present in your life and get ready to
share your experience with the rest of the
group

In the group I am safe to share and express my

true feelings, it is with my fellow group members
that I can write and rewrite my history constantly
to better grasp the positive and beautiful things
that have happened and happen constantly to
me and others around me.
I have my life to share and it is valuable, unique
and full to the top. May we all listen and talk form
the heart
State your purpose

Thank you!!!!!!!