human development 26

Hi, I need replies to these two posts. It should be 150 to 200 words each. Thank you

RM

Arnett (2015) noted that, consistent across different cultures, 80% of wives outlive their husbands. Women have shown to be very resilient when their spouse passes, due to social connections they have with their children, their community, and friends. Women also are less likely than men to remarry after their spouse has passed away. Arnett also noted that while depression is common after the death of a spouse, men are more likely to experience grief longer than women who have just lost a spouse. Men also experience more mental and physical health problems, and in longer periods, following the death of their spouse. Potential explanations for these gender differences include men feeling less capable to take on the challenges of life without their partners. Perhaps the findings that women feel like they are more burdened with daily household tasks than their male partners in young and middle adulthood supports the finding that men feel as though they are less capable to handle life following the death of their spouse. Once their wife dies, men are now more responsible for things that their wives handled, like doing the dishes, or feeding the dog. Women also strengthen their other relationships after their spouse dies, indicating they have social support to lean on and to enjoy their time with. Women may learn to live with the death and move on with their lives more so than men do when their spouse dies. Perhaps older women also have more relationship goals that are more emotion based. According to Carstensen et al. (2013), older adults maximize their well-being by becoming more selective in the relationships they invest in, choosing more emotional-based relationships rather than knowledge-based, which is common in younger ages. While this is just a thought, perhaps widows have more relationships that are emotion-based than widowers. It would be interesting to see if there is any research that has been done on this topic. As a society, we should encourage men to seek out support from their other relationships and ask for help when they need it. There is a stigma that men need to be strong, masculine, and unemotional and this idea harms men’s emotional well-being. If we encourage men to be emotional, ask for help, and engage with others, men may receive the social and professional help they need when their spouse dies and the rates of depression in these widowers may decrease.

AH

For a client who is suffering a terminal illness, care may include medication, treatments to minimize pain, spiritual/psychological therapy and overall trying to keep the individual as comfortable as possible until their end of life. Therapy with a client with a terminal illness will differ significantly from other types of therapy as it is more time limited and focused on goals of what the client would like. I want to emphasize that I believe that having specific goals during an end of life counseling is important for the therapy process and for the client. It may also be more collaborative, including family members, religious members, and or their physicians. There is something called the stages of grief an individual is likely to go through at their end of life and I think therapy should be focused on this approach. The first stage includes denial, where the client may find it hard to understand that they have the illness and that something like this is happening to them. The second stage is anger, where the client is angry at the situation and questions why them. The third stage is when the client will try to deal with this illness by finding a way to prolong life. The fourth stage is depression, where the client will feel sad, hopeless, and loneliness. The final stage is acceptance, where the client is able to accept their death and feel ready enough even though they may not be happy about the illness. Not all clients succeed at entering the final stage; acceptance before their death thus I think it is important to not hurry the process but allow the client to explore their feelings and as a clinician respect and aid the client in whatever way possible. I think as a clinician offering a supportive and safe environment to work on concerns about death and dying is vital. I may also recommend support groups for those who are also terminally ill, where the client can share their thoughts and create relationships with others going through the same process.

To some extent, I do think that this approach may be used with those with a recent diagnosis for dementia or Alzheimer’s, however it will also differ as there is no estimate “time of death” but a gradual deterioration of mental activity, one that is individual specific. As a clinician, I would aid in giving insight of what the disorder is, what usually occurs in the future, and how it affects others around the client. Treatment would most likely recommend with family or loved ones.