Psychology of Emotions, Motivations and Actions Psychology

141 Pages·2012·5.12 MB·English

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

PSYCHOLOGY OF SADNESS

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P E ,
SYCHOLOGY OF MOTIONS
M A
OTIVATIONS AND CTIONS

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PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

PSYCHOLOGY OF SADNESS

EMILE J. LANGLEY
AND
ROGER B. KNOWLES
EDITORS

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
New York
Copyright © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Psychology of sadness / editors, Emile J. Langley and Roger B. Knowles.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN: (cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:27)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:20) (eBook)
1. Sadness. I. Langley, Emile J. II. Knowles, Roger B.
BF575.S23.P79 2011
152.4--dc23
2012002183

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Chapter 1 Grief, Grieving and Beyond: Lived Experience
amoung Spouses/Cohabitants of Persons
with Bipolar Affective Disorder 1
Oscar Tranvåg
Chapter 2 King of Sorrow: Perception and Experience
of Sadness in Music 31
Tuomas Eerola and Marko Punkanen
Chapter 3 Grief, Depression and Pregnancy 53
F. Susan Cowchock
Chapter 4 Children’s Knowledge of the Interpersonal
Consequences of Sadness 81
Mariève Hurtubise and Pierre Gosselin
Chapter 5 "Combat Veterans and the Search for Meaning:
Voices from the Battlefield?" 101
Janice A. Aloi
Index 121

PREFACE

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the
psychology of sadness. Topics discussed include the grieving process and
living with persons with bipolar affective disorder; depression and pregnancy;
children's knowledge of the consequences of expressing sadness; the themes of
sadness and frustration among returning combat veterans; and the perception
and experience of sadness in music.
Chapter 1 – Grief, one of oldest forms of suffering in recorded history, is a
normal manifestation of human anguish, differing from other forms of
suffering by way of origin; an experience of loss. Since loss is a natural
consequence of being human, so too are suffering and grief natural aspects of
living. The first part of this chapter is dedicated towards illuminating crucial
aspects of human grief. Within the literature the authors find contrasting
theoretical perspectives concerning what grief is and what grieving entails.
Positivism and phenomenology are two scientific traditions with contrasting
views on the nature of grief. While these traditions emphasize seemingly
incompatible and contradicting perspectives, the authors shall discuss how
each of them can enrich the authors understanding of the nature of grief. Then,
the authors will consider how new insight may be gained by combining these
two paradigms join to form a double optic in an effort to reveal a holistic
understanding of grief, beyond what either paradigm alone can accomplish.
The second part of this chapter will review the findings of a study exploring
the grieving process experienced by a group of family caregivers, namely
spouses/cohabitants of persons with bipolar affective disorder. The study
reveals how suffering caused by grief over loss was found to be a part of a
cumulative process over an extended period of time. Over the years, each
spouse/cohabitant experienced various illness-related challenges. Persons
viii Emile J. Langley and Roger B. Knowles
living together with their ill partner over the longest periods of time found
their process of grief over loss helped them move forward towards dawning
acceptance, solace of reconciliation, and finally, a new hope. Gestalt therapy
theory was applied to develop a theoretical base of understanding for this
cumulative process bound within the psychology of this particular form of
sadness. Spouse/cohabitant suffering from grief over loss was attributed to an
inner imbalance provoked by the lack of insight and meaning, counteracting
their normal organic equilibrium. This imbalance was caused by incomplete
intrapersonal and interpersonal gestalts, or patterns. In time, new insight and
renewed meaning reduced burdens of grieving over loss, as new and holistic
gestalts immerged towards dawning acceptance, reconciliation and a new
hope. Inner imbalance was reduced, new foundations established and
equilibrium restored. Nurses and allied healthcare professionals can play
important roles in the empowerment of spouses/cohabitants. Humane and
empathetic care, health-promoting guidance and insight enriching dialogues
were found to be important factors towards encouraging grieving
spouses/cohabitants to moving forward beyond suffering, towards dawning
acceptance, reconciliation and a new hope.
Chapter 2 – Negative emotional experiences such as sadness are
interesting topic due to their inevitability in the daily lives of people but also
for the paradoxical enjoyment related to them in the context of arts. Sadness,
for instance, is in principle an aversive affective state but is nevertheless
immensely enjoyed in the arts as witnessed by prevalence of the theme in
literature, films, and music. Music in particular is a rich and natural source of
emotions for a large number of people in everyday situations. Although the
induction and recognition of emotions has received a lot of attention during the
last decade, negative emotions such as sadness induced by music, has been
less frequently explored. In this chapter the emotion regulation strategies of
the nominally sad music are presented. Also the mood congruent biases caused
by such affective state are reviewed. Sadness and negative emotions in general
are also considered in a clinical context, where long-term mood changes such
as depression bestows systematic negative biases to recognition of emotions in
music. Case examples of the processes and biases of depressed patients‟
during music therapy treatment are given. The diagnostic implications of such
results are highlighted. The potential benefits of undergoing negative emotions
in a safe context (such as music therapy setting) are discussed in detail. For
example, musical improvisation together with a music therapist can offer to a