How is the treatment of grief in boys and girls?

The loss of a loved one is something inherent to life and people are naturally trained to respond to it through a process as complex as grieving, which involved a host of emotional, psychological and behavioral reactions. that develop the moment someone close is lost.

The younger a person is, the more complex the grieving process is, and therefore, for the treatment of grieving in boys and girls, we can find various types of psychological therapies: cognitive-behavioral psychological therapies, prevention programs and support during the process. mourning or intervention at the family level, among others.

In this article we will try to explain in greater detail what the treatment of grief in boys and girls consists of ; In the first place, we are going to make a brief introduction about a process as complex, as well as natural, as grief.

What is grief in psychology?

According to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the word "mourning" has 3 definitions:

• Pity, affliction, pain or feeling.
• Demonstrations that are carried out when expressing the feeling that one has for the death of someone.
• Meeting of relatives or relatives, friends and/or guests, who attend the mortuary house or the funeral.

In this article we intend to refer rather to the first two definitions, when talking about grief as that reaction, manifestation or feeling that a person expresses due to the death of a loved one . For this reason, we speak of mourning as that set of phenomena produced in human beings at different levels: psychological, social and biological after the death of a close and dear person, mourning consisting of a process that develops step by step as it is one of the adaptive processes of the human being.

It should be noted that in some of the reference manuals we can find a classification about grief, where grief can be divided into two different categories: normative grief and complicated grief . In general, the physical, psychological and behavioral manifestations of complicated grief are the same as those that usually occur in normative grief, only that in complicated grief all of them tend to interfere more significantly with mental health and in different areas of life of the people affected.

Types of grief treatment in boys and girls

If we start looking among the main reference manuals about the treatment of grief in boys and girls, we will probably not find psychotherapy treatments that are proposed as first-choice treatments based on empirical evidence, since today they are needed more studies that are based on the efficacy of treatments for grief in childhood and adolescence.

Despite this, some systematic reviews and also meta-analyses have been carried out where the usefulness of some psychological interventions or therapies (eg, family therapy, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, play therapy, etc.) has been collected. ). Next, we will explain in more detail what these psychological treatments that are usually used for the accompaniment and treatment of grief in boys and girls consist of.

1. Prevention and support programs

For the treatment of grief in boys and girls, there are prevention programs and also accompaniment programs that are made up of multicomponent programs where psychoeducation components are collected, support sessions to help parents or close relatives and, of course, children to understand the mourning , that they feel free to talk about complex and sensitive issues such as suicide and also encourage the expression of emotions.

On the other hand, in these psychological programs it is also about detecting possible psychopathological reactions or some associated risk factors, as well as helping to promote the correct social and emotional functioning of the child who is going through grief.

It should be noted that this type of psychotherapeutic programs are based on a series of principles related to counseling and usually focus primarily on providing psychological support to children who are grieving the loss of a parent or another close relative and also to support when a parent is suffering from a serious illness that could become terminal.

However, although these programs are used quite frequently, there is not enough evidence about their effectiveness against childhood grief, although any help that could be provided in this type of situation never hurts.

2. Family intervention

The intervention would be a treatment of grief in boys and girls, the family grief program being highlighted here, which consists of a psychological intervention program that is focused on the promotion and development of resilience in those children who have suffered the loss of one or both parents and, more specifically, it is aimed at addressing those factors that are mediators of the soil process in these children.

This family psychological intervention is made up of 12 sessions in a group format, with sessions focused exclusively on psychological support for the children and another on the help of the children's caregivers or tutors, although joint sessions are also carried out. In these skills are trained and then tasks are assigned for children to practice between sessions and thus can consolidate learning in session. Among the techniques used, role-playing, group feedback or modeling , among others, should be highlighted.

In studies on the efficacy of this type of therapy we can find very favorable results in the short term, since it has been possible to observe a decrease in symptoms of depression and also fewer behavioral problems on the part of children and they can also help increase children's warmth with caregivers and greater satisfaction with social support.

3. Cognitive behavioral psychological therapy

Another treatment of grief in boys and girls that we can find is cognitive-behavioral psychological therapy, which in these cases would be the one focused on trauma, was developed with the aim of providing psychological support to children over 6 years of age before the duel for the death of a close person due to circumstances that could be traumatic.

This psychological treatment is made up of approximately 17 sessions, carrying out the therapy separately but simultaneously with the affected child and with their parents, doing a session together at the end.

This treatment is focused on helping to understand one's own reactions to the trauma suffered and also on the development of a series of skills that could be used to cope with the circumstances that are happening and the event suffered.

On the other hand, some of the techniques used will be oriented towards the development of a narrative of the trauma that could allow desensitization to traumatic memories and also seeks to restructure those maladaptive thoughts associated with trauma and others of another nature that could cause significant discomfort. In addition, other techniques are included within this therapy , such as psychoeducation, relaxation, emotional imagination, etc.

In this case, there are studies that have shown evidence of this therapy for the reduction of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and also other behavioral and emotional problems associated with the event suffered, so it may be a recommended option in cases of complicated grief in childhood and adolescence.

4. Narrative therapy

Narrative therapy is a treatment of grief in boys and girls. It is mainly based on the narration of a series of stories that can help children who are grieving the death of someone close to verbalize and also process it, such as be a parent. In these stories, the narrator is in charge of telling a story, telling the beginning and the middle, incorporating a series of elements that are associated with the loss of the loved one and then it would be the child who is in charge of telling the end.

The professionals in charge of developing this type of therapy to help cope with grief have concluded that in their research it has been observed that children, although they are sad at first, are fearful and timid, as the sessions progress they feel little little more comforted and they seem more able to express their loss and their pain through stories.

5. Play therapy

We can also find play therapy as a treatment for mourning in boys and girls, which has been developed in order to establish a safe environment so that they can express their pain, since children normally experience certain difficulties when it comes to expressing with words what they feel. That is why play therapy encourages children to express their emotions, thoughts, worries and fears without fear .

Various materials are used in play therapy, such as paints, toy building blocks, and all kinds of toys (eg, dolls, children's medical kits, toy cars, etc.). The objective of using this type of material is that children can represent their own version of their fears, concerns and also the scene of death.

6. Art therapy and music therapy

Finally, when talking about the treatment of grief in boys and girls, art therapy and music therapy should also be highlighted. The first of them is used in order to help children who are going through a grieving process to express their pain through drawing when they do not find the words for it, since it is likely that this will be easier for them and that is how it can help them process the traumatic and painful event they have experienced .

On the other hand, music therapy is made up of various techniques associated with the world of music, such as musical improvisation, lyrical analysis and, of course, songwriting.

It should be noted that some music therapy programs include behavior modification sessions, cognitive-behavioral techniques, emotion expression techniques through song composition, as well as psychoeducation about grief so that these children can process and normalize this process. In addition, studies carried out on music therapy have found promising results.