Brian A. Wong

Death & Grief Counseling (COUN 456) Marshall University – Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Analysis of complicated grief in “Waking the Dead”

In the 2000 film “Waking the Dead” starring Billy Crudrup as Fielding Pierce and Jennifer

Connely as Sarah Williams, Fielding experiences delayed complicated grief from death of his

girlfriend. Before addressing his grief issues, it is important to first understand about grief.

Grief is the “normal and natural reaction to loss of any kind” and the “conflicting feelings

caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior” and is also “the most neglected and

misunderstood experience, often by both the grievers and those around them” (James & Friedman,

2009, p. 3). Theories about our understanding of grief have developed over the years by psychiatrists,

psychologists, researchers, and others interested in grief. As useful as some theories are, Walsh-Burke

(2009) points out that these theories can be culturally biased; these theories have been researched by

individuals who resided in a given location at a particular period in history. It is unclear whether “each

theory can be universally applied to all people, in all cultures and time periods” (Walsh-Burke, 2009, p.

45).

A common challenge in bereavement is identifying complicated grief or complicated mourning.

According to Rando (1993) inconsistent and imprecise terminology has made defining complicated

mourning elusive. The evaluator of a person’s grief can also be biased as the terms for complicated

mourning “have been employed to indicate that a mourner’s response to loss is somehow failing to

progress as the person evaluating it thinks it should” (Rando, 1993, p. 11). One important

consideration in identifying complicated grief is taking into account the griever’s culture (Rando, 1993;

Walsh-Burke, 2009). Another thing to consider when assessing an individual’s grief is the Mediators

of Mourning developed by Worden (2009): 1) Who the person who died was; 2) nature of the

attachment; 3) how the person died; 4) historical antecedents; 5) Personality Variables; 6) Social

Variables; and 7) Concurrent Stresses. The Mediators of Mourning will affect how the griever will

accomplish his Tasks of Mourning: 1) To Accept the Reality of the Loss; 2) To Process the Pain of

Grief; 3) To Adjust to a World Without the Deceased; and 4) To Find an Enduring Connection With

the Deceased in the Midst of Embarking on a New Life. Since each person’s grief is individual and

unique to them, the tasks of grief will be viewed in a non-linear, non-sequential manner.

There are different types of complicated grief: chronic grief, delayed grief, exaggerated grief,

and masked grief (Walsh-Burke, 2006; Worden, 2009). The following is a look at Fielding’s Mediators

of Mourning.

Fielding was experiencing mostly a delayed grief reaction. One possible contributor to the

delay was the media attention surrounding Sarah’s death. In order for him to get the reporters out of his

mind, thoughts of Sarah would go too, because of their connection. As a result he put his grief on hold.

Sarah was Fielding’s girlfriend and worked with the church, helping the less fortunate

(mediator 1). Fielding desired a life in politics, a representative (mediator 6). Their separate career

endeavors began to conflict, as was seen in the scene riding the L train (mediator 2). This conflict was

not resolved because Sarah’s death in a bomb was so sudden (mediator 3) upon her return from Chile;

unresolved conflicts and issues are very common with sudden deaths (James & Friedman, 2009;

Walsh-Burke, 2009). Often when a politician, such as a congressperson, runs for an office, they have

to visit a wide diversity of people. Fielding might have seen people on his campaign that reminded him

of the type of people Sarah worked with; he even missed three events one day. He was leaving a

private life and entering a rather public life (mediator 7). Another contributor to his complicated

delayed grief reaction was of the violent way Sarah died. According to Worden (2009), “the impact of

violent and traumatic deaths can be long lasting and often leads to complicated mourning” (p. 61).

Since Sarah’s death was high profile in the news, details of the death were repeated and shown on the

news and the reporters were bothering Fielding and Sarah’s family. When grievers are “often subjected

to insensitive reporting and unrelenting public exposure” it is very easy for a griever to experience

complicated grief” (Walsh-Burke, 2009, p. 52).

Another indicator of Fielding’s complicated grief was the continuing bond with Sarah and his

episodes of hallucinations. Fielding searches places to find Sarah, such as the church; these are

expressions of a continuing bond and unresolved loss (Field, 2006, 2008; Field & Filanosky, 2010). He

began to process the pain of his grief at the restaurant after his congressional campaign win. After him

getting settled into office, he finds a connection with Sarah in the midst of a new life as a U.S.

Representative.

It is very likely that Sarah was the first death of someone close to him, as there was no mention

of previous death losses in his life (mediator 4). Fielding is an action-oriented person and likes to

occupy himself with things to do rather than talk about his feelings (mediator 5). In private, he

expressed his emotions and, for him, thinking is dominant over emotions; grievers with these

characteristics of this grief style tend to be what is called an instrumental griever (Humphrey, 2009;

Pomeroy & Garcia, 2009).

It is very clear that Fielding experienced delayed grief, with hallucinations and the public

exposure of Sarah’s death complicating things.

References

Field, N.P. (2006). Unresolved grief and continuing bonds: an attachment perspective. Death

Studies, 30(8), 739-756. doi:10.1080/07481180600850518.

Field, N.P. (2008). Whether to relinquish or maintain a bond with the deceased. In M.S. Stroebe, R.O.

Hansson, H. Schut, & W. Stroebe (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research and practice:

advances in theory and intervention (pp. 113-129). Washington, DC: American Psychological

Association.

Field, N.P., & Filanosky, C. (2010). Continuing bonds, risk Factors for complicated grief, and

adjustment to bereavement. Death Studies, 34(1), 1-29. doi:10.1080/07481180903372269.

Humphrey, K.M. (2000). Counseling strategies for loss and grief. Alexandria, VA: American

Counseling Association.

James, J.W. & Friedman, R. (2009). The grief recovery handbook: the action program for moving

beyond death, divorce, and other losses. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Pomeroy, E.C. & Garcia, R.C. (2009). The grief assessment and intervention workbook: a strengths

perspective. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Rando, T.A. (1993). Treatment of complicated mourning. Champaign, IL: Research Press.

Walsh-Burke, K. (2006). Grief and loss: theories and skills for helping professionals. Boston, MA:

Pearson Education.

Worden, J.W. (2009). Grief counseling and grief therapy: a handbook for the mental health

practitioner. (Fourth edition). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.