William Worden’s 4 Tasks of Grief

William Worden’s tasks of mourning constitute a renewal of the mourning processes. Grief has been conceived as a process divided into stages through which the person involved in some type of loss must go through. The conception of grief in stages gives mourners a passive role, this positioning having important consequences for the development of complicated grief.

Frequently, a loss process is associated with a period of mourning. Referring to grief as a process in stages instead of tasks reduces the involvement of the person, who somehow understands that the results of the process are, to a large extent, the result of the passage of time itself.

Faced with this idea, William Worden, one of the most recognized specialists in the processes of grief and loss, elaborates a series of stages that individuals go through as active agents in their own process. This leads to the development of healthy grief and the prevention of the chronicification of the grieving process.

What is loss?

Not even the most positive transitions in life are loss-free.: from the promotion in the job that implies the loss of the previous job, to becoming parents, when a life with fewer responsibilities must be left behind.

In general, the losses of human beings in today’s society can be classified as follows:

Losses due to the death of a loved one. Decrease in functionality. Translated as losses related to physical and/or mental healthLosses related to the job position and therefore, losses related to one of the roles performed in daily lifeDamage caused by wars and/or natural disastersTheft of precious objectsCouple separations, divorces etc.

What is grief?

Grief is an inherent process that involves the transition to a new stage without the object of loss. (in this case, it will refer to the loss of a loved one). Grief generates a series of biological, emotional and behavioral reactions that facilitate adaptation to the environment and the development of new roles in life without the deceased person.

Several authors have focused on the study of grief and its organization by stages or phases. In this case, William Worden develops a series of tasks for people who have to go through this ordeal.. This active role of the person is not contrary to the idea that grieving is a process that takes time.

William Worden’s 4 Tasks of Grief

The Tasks of Mourning by William Worden They range from accepting the reality of the loss to adapting to an environment without what we have lost.. Since grief is a process and not a state, the tasks of grief involve cognitive processing that prepares one to cope with certain circumstances and accept the experience of loss: adaptation to a different and less desired world than the previous one.

Grief Tasks: Accepting the Reality of the Loss

When someone dies, even from natural causes, there is a feeling of unreality. The first task of mourning would be to face the death of that person and that their reunion is impossible, at least in this life.

The latter refers to the fact that, after the loss, it is common for the deceased person to be confused with other people. people on the street or even a place to eat at a family event. Similarly, some people encounter difficulties in carrying out the first task due to thoughts about the reversibility of death.

Grief tasks: elaboration of pain after loss

The physical, emotional, and behavioral pain in the grieving process is real. If this pain is not recognized, it will manifest itself in other forms resulting in abnormal behavior and physical and psychological problems.. Not everyone experiences pain with the same intensity, but it is possible to lose someone with whom you have been very close and not feel pain.

A person is usually not prepared for the whirlwind of emotions that will shake them in this process, no matter how expected the loss was.

Nevertheless, maintaining the denial of the loss, in the long term, prevents the exit from grief. People who consciously avoid pain don’t let it go either. Psychological counseling is vitally important in cases where this task remains stuck.

Grief tasks: adapting to the environment without the loved one

Adapting to the environment without the loved one involves both external and internal tasks. That is, adaptations about how the person’s death influences the person’s self-image, values, beliefs, etc., and external adaptations related to the deceased person’s daily life tasks.

With respect to internal adaptations, mourners must adapt their own personal identity in the grieving process. It does not only refer to seeing themselves as widowers, as parents who have lost a child, etc. Rather, it refers to how your spiritual beliefs and value system influence after the loss that has occurred.

Personal competence after loss is also important. For example, responsibilities that were previously assumed by the person who has left must now be assumed by the person in the grieving process.

Tasks of grief: finding a connection with the deceased and continuing to live

It is the last of the tasks of mourning proposed by William Worden. This describes the need to find a lasting bond with the loved one who has died, so that at the same time other behavioral repertoires adapted to the environment can be established without that person. There may be several links with the loved one. Among them, the following stand out:

Some item of clothing of the loved one that makes it special. A photograph. A family album with photos. A short video. Etc.

It is one of the most difficult tasks, since the consequences of not performing this task would result in remaining stuck when this person lived, losing the demands that the context is making at the present moment. When the person clings so much to the relationship they had with their loved one that it does not allow them to establish other relationships at the current moment, it could be said that psychological intervention is necessary.

Grief is essentially a demand for adaptation, so Finding certain difficulties in connecting with the environment is normal. The problem is when these processes become chronic and do not allow the individual to develop personally, giving rise to certain psychological problems.

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