Grief: A Brief Survey                   Thank you for your help with this!!!!

I am collecting data for a research paper that I am writing.  If you would like to help me, please answer the following questions and submit them to me. Your answers will be completely anonymous & private. No one will see them except me. Ever. Also, feel free to answer as little or much of  this as you desire to or feel comfortable with. The more you add, the more it will help this research...=) Every part is OPTIONAL,  & every part offers the chance to help others!! Thank you very much! Sincerely, Lalita

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT GRIEF IS A  UNIQUE EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE...
THEREFORE, THERE IS NO COMPARISON BETWEEN EACH PERSON'S QUALITATIVE
EXPERIENCING.  HOWEVER, THROUGH OUR SHARING WE CAN LEARN A LOT &
HELP EACH OTHER A LOT.  Thank you for your help!

1.  Are you:  Single     Married       Divorced        Remarried    

2.  Are you:  0-19      20-30       31-40      41-60     61-100

3.  Are you:  female     male

4.  Are you:  heterosexual    bisexual   homosexual   other

5.  What is your ethnicity:

6.  Describe any experiences of deep loss or grief that you have
     experienced during your life.

6.  Has someone close to you ever died?  Yes.     No.

7.  Was (s)he/were they a parent child best friend lover caretaker other

8.  Have you ever experienced deep grieving?    Yes.     No.
     If yes, please describe in any words that you would like - brief, or detailed, or poetic, or
     emotional, etc...what grief has felt like for you?  Did you feel anger, or remorse, or sorrow,
     or rage, or guilt, or acceptance, or numbness, or all of the above and more?

9.  How long has it been since you experienced this loss?  

10. Do you feel that you have gained any acceptance within yourself about your loss,
or do you continue to greatly suffer over it?

11.  How did this loss/grief change your perspective on life, or change your life in general?

12.  What did you feel that you needed, during your time of struggle, from other people?

13.  Were the people in your life there for you? Did they comfort & console you, or did
they bother you by trying to remove your suffering through any means (ie, telling you
that everything would be okay, or telling you to "get over it" or "deal with it," or offering
advice that bothered you, or asking you to hide your feelings or not cry in public, etc). 
Please describe these experiences, both positive & negative, here:

14.  When you faced loss, how did your body feel? Your emotions?  Your thoughts?
Your life overall?  Did you obsessively think about certain things?

15. Have you had any positive growth or realizations in response to this experience?

16.  Did anyone say anything to you or do anything for you during your
time of grief that really helped you?  What did they say or do?

16.  Did you experience guilt or "If only I had..." bargaining types of feelings?

17.  How did this affect your spirituality and/or existential views?
Did you feel comforted by your views (ie, they are with God now) or
disturbed (how could God take my love away from me?) or both or
something different?  Did your views change as a result of this experience?

18.  Did certain people remain by your side, and/or did others abandon
you or disappear whom you expected would be there? Did people around
you seem awkward with your pain, or try to get rid of your pain, or did
they openly listen to you or hold you or simply be present with you lovingly?

19. What book(s) or movie(s) or website(s) would you recommend, if any,
as something that really helped you to cope with or understand grief/loss in your life?

20.  If you could offer words of inspiration, or consolation, or wisdom to someone
who has just lost someone whom they love dearly, what ideas, or words, or stories,
or poems, or anything at all, would you share with them?

Thank you very much for your participation!!!!!!