Research on How the Death or a Parent or Parent-Figure Affects a Teen

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[ original share date 3/27/22 ] !! TW. This will review parent death from a scientific point of view. If this makes you uncomfortable in any way, kindly leave and do something you enjoy. Stay safe! !! This is all from research presented by others- if there is anyone with prior experience they would like to share (and I am so sorry) I will gladly take it. Foreword This idea is 100% stolen from Mango, go follow him at @pastel-galaxy! I know a little bit on grief already, but not in any way to such an extent. I've lost a sister, a cousin, and a few great-grandparents but none of them affected me in any long-term ways besides my sister's death, through my mother. (Through the way my mother grieves, that is. She was stillborn and I was 5 so my lack of a reaction makes more sense with that context.) Regalpaw has recently lost Redstar and the best way I can describe the way she looked up to and depended on him was honestly close to how a child would love their father, even despite it not being exactly the same. I began to roleplay with my prior knowledge of grief but realized it wasn't enough and began to do some research. Bear with me as this gets long. The 5 Stages of Grief Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance This is not a set way to grieve and I recognize that now. Everyone copes differently and this is merely what most people experience from a study that is widely used. How the Death of a Parent Affects a Teenager 1. How will this affect the child's mental health? Due to parental loss, adolescents experienced sleep disturbance, more irritability, anger and difficulties being with people. Moreover, ... in the second half of the year following the death, a few subjects experienced the onset of significant and new problems which included depression, alcohol abuse, delinquency, and threatened school failure. Excerpts from psychological reactions (other than anxiety and depression) were all negative, and detailed an increase of various psychological problems. For example, one identified increased neuroticism; another found increased levels of guilt and extreme fear; another mention a prevalence of dysthymia and bipolar episodes as well as incidences of phobia and panic; yet another identifies reported higher levels of s*****e ideation; and extreme cases found the need for psychiatric hospitalization (Harris, 1991). 3. How will this affect a child socially? Teenagers may want to be with friends more than family for support. In some instances, teenagers will gravitate to their online gaming community for support and connectedness. Young people don't like to feel different and a bereaved teenager may feel socially isolated. They may want to feel and look as though they are coping while trying to manage or deny difficult internal emotions and feelings. To escape this level of discomfort some teens may use risk taking behavior. 4. What are some common reactions to the death of a parent (as a teen)? difficulty concentrating, being easily distracted withdrawal, needing more personal space taking on adult responsibilities and become 'the carer' for those around them 'act out' isolation trying hard to please being overwhelmed by intense reactions such as guilt, anger or fear having difficulty expressing their emotions fearing for their own and others' safety having questions about mortality, death, dying and spirituality using jokes and humour to mask their feelings feeling embarrassed, hiding or minimising their loss wanting to be close to friends and family having physical symptoms (such as feeling sick, headaches, stomach aches) dreaming about or sensing the presence of the person who has died getting into trouble, being defiant, irritable eating or sleeping more or less than usual risk taking behaviour to escape, find comfort or to prove they are alive and strong temporary regressing (for example, losing self-confidence, bed wetting) haivng strained relationships having a change in self-image, lower self-esteem, confidence sadness may move to depression may have s****dal thoughts The Anxiety and Depression perspective Anxiety and depression were the most commonly found reactions amongst bereaving adolescents. A suggests that depression was significantly found as a reaction to the loss of a parent and that “individuals categorized as having a passive/dependant personality were particularly prone to depression if they received low support”. In addition, studies showed higher levels of depression in adolescents who described having poor past relationships with the deceased parent, most probably due to unstable family structures at the time of the death. Developmentally, teens are in a time of big physical and emotional changes and may flip back and forth between younger age group type reactions and more adult reactions. Grief can have an impact on the developmental task of moving from dependence to independence, where young people move from family ties to increasing reliance on their peers.