Eating Disorders: Grief Support Groups

Saturday 20 October 2012

Grief Support Groups

While grief counseling has always been an aspect of any clinical psychology practice, it wasn't until around the 1970s that health care professionals began to show an increased interest in issues relating to death, and thus increased interest related to the subjects of grief and bereavement. As this therapeutic practice began to be formalized as a distinct psychological discipline, a number of practitioners dedicated themselves to specific research focused on loss and grief counseling. The result was a growing body of literature, replete with its own terminology and best practice methods.The overarching purpose of grief counseling is to help individuals overcome negative feelings and thoughts that are associated with the loss of a loved one. Current methods focus either on individual counseling offered by psychologists, social workers, or specially trained counselors, or in a less formal way through support groups organized by community groups and specific organizations dedicated to this kind of work.