Kyra Butler

Professor Johnson
English Composition II
3 August, 2020

Literary Review

The most important thing in one’s life are the relationships that are formed with others in

various settings. These relationships are called interpersonal and they have a lot of depth and

reasoning behind why they are so important. Interpersonal relationships are emotional, physical

and/or mental associations between two or more people through different ties including school,

work, friendships, relationships and various other forms of relationships. Why is it necessary to

have healthy interpersonal relationships, and what happens when they are damaged? The loss or

damage to an interpersonal relationship can cause mild to severe negative effects on someone’s

mental, emotional and physical health and none of these effects should be taken lightly.

There are a multitude of sources that back up this claim and give clearcut reasoning why

these relationships are so detrimental. One source of this is Emotional Responses to Interpersonal

Rejection by Mark R. Leary, PHD. At one point in the article, he states, “This article examines

seven emotions that often arise when people perceive that their relational value to other people is

low or in potential jeopardy, including hurt feelings, jealousy, loneliness, shame, guilt, social

anxiety, and embarrassment. Other emotions, such as sadness and anger, may occur during
rejection episodes, but are reactions to features of the situation other than low relational value.”

This source is great because it offers a lot of scientific insight on interpersonal relationships and

how people feel when they are rejected and their reactions to losing one. It goes past the

everyday events and breaks it down into scientific and psychological terms that explain why this

happens.

Another source is the article Children With an Absent Parent by Relate. In it they state,

“You need to support your child through this very difficult time, as well as over the coming

months and years.This is important because experiences of loss in a child’s life can affect how

they deal with relationships in the future.” This source shows that children need support through

a parent leaving because it can leave children feeling distrustful and unloved in other

relationships. In another article titled How To Help a Grieving Child by the Dougy Center, they

state, “Some children want to talk about the death, while others want to be left alone. Some like

to stay busy and others withdraw from all activities and stay home. Younger children may be

clingy, whereas teens may prefer to spend time on their own or with peers.” This is a very good

source because it shows how some children react differently than others, which is important to

note when dealing with someone who has lost a loved one. There are multiple approaches and

responses to these kinds of ordeals. This article has to do with the death of a parent which still

has many similar views to it. If a child suffers from the loss of a parent, they will also have

distrust, sadness, confusion and other emotions that go along with grief. This is a great source
because the loss of a parent and the grief that follows is really strong, especially in children who

don’t fully understand why their parent isn’t around.

According to the CDC, they state, “Feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, and other

emotional or financial stresses are known to raise the risk for suicide. People may be more likely

to experience these feelings during a crisis like a pandemic.” This source is a great source

because not only is it a reliable source, but it also helps add to the paper on why depression and

anxiety can be heightened because of things like the pandemic. When considering the loss of an

interpersonal relationship, one of the most important things is the way that it affects someone

emotionally, mentally and physically. With COVID happening, however, these are heightened

because people don’t have as many outlets to escape from it with, which makes this even more

dangerous. The CDC is the Center of Disease Control, so they have first hand knowledge of the

virus and how it affects people.

One example of people who could fall victim to this is children, who are more inept to

depression during quarantine, even if they hadn’t previously had a history of it before. In a quote

from ChildMind, they state, “Kids who have a history of depression are particularly at risk

during this stressful time, but significant upsetting events, like the pandemic, can also trigger

depression in children who haven’t shown any signs of it previously. “ An important part of this

quote is when they describe COVID-19 as a “significant upsetting event.” Any time there is

something considered a significantly upsetting event, it is bound to leave people upset. COVID

has had a very big impact on people and their emotions and has left people with no way to get

them out. Kids especially have a hard time with this because they already struggle to discuss

their emotions with others, but the pandemic and quarantine that followed have made it even
harder for children to find outlets. Not just children are affected, however, everyone has the

ability to become affected by this.

The main outsource of losing an interpersonal relationship is depression. Depression can

have a variety of factors that go along with it. In a quote from the article How Depression and

Anxiety May Affect Relationships, it states, “The Anxiety and Depression Association of

America found that generalized anxiety disorder affects 6.8 million people in the United States,

with the number being much higher across the world. It is difficult to live with depression. The

symptoms can affect your mental health, generate sadness and suicidal thoughts, and can even

have a physical impact on your life. Depression and anxiety raise stress, decrease energy, cause

weight to fluctuate, contribute to insomnia and the list goes on.” This is a really great source

because it shows how many people are affected by this. This puts it into perspective and shows

people how many people have depression and how big of a deal it is. Depression is very common

and the impact it has on relationships can sometimes be very detrimental. Sometimes the loss of

an interpersonal relationship causes depression and sometimes depression causes the loss of an

interpersonal relationship. It is widely known that depression has lasting effects on you mentally,

emotionally and physically, and often causes negativity to stem from it (anger, isolation..). This

source is very helpful because it shows the different ways that depression impacts relationships.

It offers key examples of everyday life and how it affects people and their loved ones like their

spouses and themselves. One thing that can trigger this depression is the loss of a loved one.

Death is a hard concept for anyone to cope with and handle, but death during a pandemic

can make it harder. In a quote from University of Chicago Medicine, they state it best, “Also,
due to stay-at-home orders and shutdowns, the usual ways we cope with stress — hobbies, self-

care, physically being with family or friends, and doing enjoyable activities — may not be

available to us. ” This source explains the concept of this section of the essay well, it touches on

important things. COVID-19 has created an environment where grieving is not only hard, but

inaccessible to those who need the space to. Even some things such as the funerals having been

closed and not being able to get the closure needed can make the grieving process worse. This

can make it a lot harder to grieve and have an impact on someone emotionally.

There are appropriate responses that help people feel better and good ways to respond

when someone else is going through something. For instance, in a quote from Helpguide’s article

titled Helping Someone Who’s Grieving, it states, “The most important thing you can do for a

grieving person is to simply be there. It’s your support and caring presence that will help your

loved one cope with the pain and gradually begin to heal.” This source is really helpful because it

shows people how to care for others during a time when they need to heal. This is one way to

help someone when they lose someone else. The best thing you can do when someone needs you

is to be there and listen to them, not try to double down and make them feel like they cannot talk

about it with you. Helping someone when they lose someone else can be hard because it can be

difficult to figure out what you need to say or what to do, however this is a key important

moment to be kind to others and be there for them. It is the same with someone who is just going

through a friendship breakup or just a regular breakup, these things affect people differently and

some people can take it harsher than others.

 Someone who is suffering through this may also have a bad reaction physically.

Depression and anxiety are not always mental, sometimes they also have effects on you

physically. In a quote from NCBI, they state, “These symptoms include chronic joint pain, limb

pain, back pain, gastrointestinal problems, tiredness, sleep disturbances, psychomotor activity

changes, and appetite changes. “ This is a great source because it discusses the many ways

depression can affect someone physically, which ties into the physical part of the essay. It is very

important to know this information because not all people who suffer with depression only have

one form of symptoms. And most of the times, the physical ones are ignored or chopped up as

something else, which makes it hard for these people to deal with.

All of these sources are similar because they focus around the idea that children (or even

adults) who lose an interpersonal relationship have a harder time going through life and are

greatly impacted by this. They also focus on depression and explain about how they impact

people and what changes things in your relationships. They give a lot of good information that

really helps people understand things and why their relationships are being affected. The

difference is what they focus on specifically. The last source is different because it focuses on

depression as a whole and not interpersonal relationships solely. Despite this, it still offers very

impact key factors that help people understand why we should care when a loved one has

depression. This one will help in the essay because after seeing the interesting facts, it has helped

me decide to focus on how the breakage of an interpersonal relationship affects people

specifically dealing with depression.

 In conclusion, these sources will help expand on the topic and make the future essay a

lot better. Losing an interpersonal relationship can cause a lot of mistrust and harm in present

time and down the line, yet many people don’t discuss it or take it into consideration as much.

They are important to note because not everyone can handle losing a relationship like that.

Someone who relies heavily on the people around them will not be able to move on from

something like losing a parent or a friend. These sources greatly help explain the situations

better.
Work cited
Azorina, Valeriya, et al. “The Perceived Impact of Suicide Bereavement on Specific
Interpersonal Relationships: A Qualitative Study of Survey Data.” International Journal of
Environmental Research and Public Health, MDPI, 21 May 2019,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6572476/.

Jacoby, Jessica. “Grieving the Loss of a Loved One to COVID-19.” UChicago Medicine,
UChicago Medicine, 27 May 2020, www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/coronavirus-
disease-covid-19/tips-for-grieving-the-loss-of-a-loved-one-to-covid-19.

Leary, Mark R. “Emotional Responses to Interpersonal Rejection.” Dialogues in Clinical

Neuroscience, Les Laboratoires Servier, Dec. 2015,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734881/.

“Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19.” Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 July 2020,
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html.

Miller, Caroline. “Signs of Depression During the Coronavirus Crisis.” Child Mind Institute,
18 May 2020, childmind.org/article/signs-of-depression-during-coronavirus-crisis/.

Smith, Melinda, et al. “Helping Someone Who's Grieving.” Helping Someone Who's
Grieving - HelpGuide.org, Sept. 2019, www.helpguide.org/articles/grief/helping-someone-
who-is-grieving.htm.

Trivedi, Madhukar H. “The Link between Depression and Physical Symptoms.” Primary
Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Physicians Postgraduate Press,
Inc., 2004, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC486942/.