After readingDisenfranchised Grief, recognizing hidden sorrow by Kenneth J Doka,read the case study below and discuss the thoughts in light of the material assigned, as well as the knowledge on unfinished business, complicated grief, etc.

Case Study on Disenfranchised Grief:

Martha's parents divorced when she was fifteen. She was forced to choose which parent to live with. Through considerable anguish, she chose to live with her mother. Her father moved to another city and became quite distant emotionally. He remarried and established a second family. Martha's father died when she was in her late twenties. She was informed of her father's death and traveled to attend his funeral. When she appeared during calling hours, the eyes and gestures of surviving members of his new family greeted her apprehensively. Clearly, she made them uncomfortable, and she tried her best to be inconspicuous. Within a few minutes, and before she even had a chance to approach her father's body in his casket, she was told by a spokesman for the family that she was not welcome that evening. "Please leave now, and know that we do not want to see you at the funeral. You rejected your father, hurting him terribly, and none of us want anything to do with you." Martha was startled and distraught. Swallowing hard out of respect for the pain and anguish of the family, and not wanting to make a scene, she withdrew. She decided not to attend her father's funeral, again deferring to the wishes, really demands, of his new family. She took the initiative to approach the funeral director the next day. Respecting her position as an immediate survivor, he arranged for her to spend time with her father's body where she would have an opportunity to speak to him, touch him again, pray, and say goodbye without the knowledge of the others.