All too often, the needs of bereaved relatives are not met because they are advised to not look at the bodies of their loved ones who died a traumatic death. Because their needs are unmet, bereaved relatives often experience secondary victimization, which is an unnecessary additional pain. Therefore, after losing their loved ones to traffic or aircraft accidents, homicides, suicides, or mass disasters (such as terror attacks, tsunami, and earthquakes), bereaved relatives often struggle with many unanswered questions, for example, I did not see him/her with my own eyes, so is it really true my loved one died? Where and how was my loved one found? Did he or she suffer? How did my loved one look like? These questions are posed to professionals who in turn ask themselves, would it be helpful or not helpful for these bereaved relatives to be shown pictures of the dead body of their loved ones? Can "photo viewing" (PV) fulfill the unfulfilled needs of these bereaved relatives? First, we describe different forms of secondary victimization when bereaved relatives are denied their wish to see their deceased loved one. Then, principles underlying PV and the step-by-step PV approach will be described in a checklist format, followed by a classification of bereavement needs after a traumatic death. It was concluded that if PV is carefully carried out with informed consent, it fulfills a variety of needs of bereaved people in traumatic death cases. There is evidence that although in the short term, PV causes unavoidable pain to bereaved relatives, in the long term, it makes them feel less distressed.
Life-cycle losses related to growing up, getting old, and dying (as well as divorce, amputation, illness, handicaps, migration, etc.) cause one to grieve in response to a particular loss. Grief work is defined as a conscious, active, and tangible process of letting go. Six conditions for grief work are identified, described, and located in three domains. The first domain of universality conditions includes diagnostics and self-care. The second domain of individuality conditions includes existential work and a multimethod approach. The third domain of sociality conditions includes family, social network, and culture and normalizing grief. Setting these six conditions is described as a joint responsibility of the griever (self-care), griever's environment (social care), and professionals (professional care). This article focuses on tasks of the professional in setting the six conditions for supporting grief work. Pitfalls in each area are identified. The case of Mr. Johnson illustrates each of the six conditions.
Violence begets violence and it is important to understand how cycles of violence are perpetuated if we are to find solutions to the global problems they present. A multi-disciplinary group of The International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement has developed a model of the cyclical events that perpetuate violence at all levels including the family, community, nation, and world. This includes the Violent Act(s), the Perception of the Violent Act(s), the Immediate Response, Legitimising Authority, Destructive Codes, and Inflammatory/Polarising Strategies. It is possible at each point to break the cycle, examples are given and recommendations made.
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