Grief and Bereavement Practices Among Igbo People of South-Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Counselling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53449/ije.v1i1.41Keywords:
grief, bereavement, Igbo people, counsellingAbstract
Death is as old as human kind, but always appears in minds as fresh as a new born when and wherever it occurs. Death or loss of loved one/valuable items is a tragedy, disastrous and difficult to swallow within a short period of its occurrence. The unpredictable psychological feeling called grief is usually accompanied with emotional setbacks like; anxiety, depression, insomnia, anger, feeling of guilt, sadness, despair and yearning among others determines the level of attachment to the loss and so the likely period of bereavement. The unfortunate circumstances seem to manifest themselves even among animals particularly mammals for example; chimpanzees exhibit silence behavior around the dead member, gorillas use sign language and even expressing sadness about the deceased member, elephants display destructive unusual habit on seeing motionless member, some deer mostly sniff and poke while looking at their lifeless deceased among others. However, this paper attempts to define the concepts of grief, mourning, counselling and bereavement practices by various groups around the world, with much emphasis on Igbo people of South-Eastern Nigeria as well as its counselling implications.
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