PSYC 235 Week 8 Blog 3 Example

Reviewed by Allison Pemberton, PhD · Liberty University · Updated

This PSYC 235 Week 8 example is Blog 3, the closing entry of Liberty University PSYC 235's blog series for BS in Psychology students, worth 20 points and written after Bjorklund's closing chapters on death and bereavement and on successful aging, with one presentation and Exam 4 due the same week. The composite prompt asks what the chapters taught about how adults face loss. The entry sets a grandfather who grieved deeply and then rebuilt a life beside a neighbor whose grief stayed raw for years, and uses the new DSM-5-TR diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder to explain the difference. It draws on a validation study of 672 bereaved adults in three samples showing that the new criteria were reliable, distinct from depression and PTSD, and predicted later impairment. A biblical concept of grieving with hope frames the reflection, and the response takes up a classmate's blog on successful aging.

CoursePSYC 235 Psychology of Adulthood (PSYC235)
Module/Week8
AssignmentBlog 3
Paper typeBlog entry and response
Lengthabout 466 words (thread and replies). Course guide: per the course guide, a blog entry posted in the online course plus a substantial response to 1 classmate's blog
FormatAPA 7 citations and reference list
Points20
SchoolLiberty University Online
ProgramBS in Psychology
Where it sitsModule/Week 8 in Liberty's published PSYC 235 course guide; current sections can differ
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for PSYC 235 Week 8

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Blog 3: Entry and Response

PSYC 235 Psychology of Adulthood, Blog 3 (entry and one response)

Thread by [Student Name]

The blog prompt, the writer's family details and the classmate's entry are composites standing in for the course's own blog; the textbook, Scripture and published study are real; the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for PSYC 235.

Blog Entry

Why this part earns its pointsThe entry starts from two contrasting experiences of loss, which leads naturally to the question the research answers.
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When my grandmother died, my grandfather cried at the funeral, slept in her chair for weeks and stopped going to his Thursday breakfast group. A year later, he was back at breakfast, telling stories about her that made the whole table laugh. Our neighbor lost her husband the same year. Four years on, she still sets his place at the table, avoids friends who knew him and says her life stopped the day he died.

Bjorklund (2015) describes grief as a process that varies widely, and notes that many bereaved adults are more resilient than older theories of stages suggested, returning to daily functioning within months even while they continue to miss the person. A smaller group experiences grief that does not ease. In 2022, the American Psychiatric Association added prolonged grief disorder to the DSM-5-TR to describe that group.

Prigerson et al. (2021) tested the new criteria in three samples of bereaved adults from Yale, Utrecht and Oxford, 672 people in all, assessed 12 to 24 months after a loss and again months later. The diagnosis centers on an attachment disturbance, intense yearning for the person who died, with symptoms such as identity disruption, disbelief and a sense that life is meaningless. It proved reliable and stable over time, and it was distinct from major depression, PTSD and generalized anxiety, though it often occurred with them. Above all, it predicted suicidal thoughts, poorer quality of life and impairment later on, which suggests the diagnosis identifies people who genuinely need help rather than labeling ordinary sorrow.

Paul wrote that believers grieve, but not as those who have no hope (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, 1 Thessalonians 4:13). That concept honors grief instead of rushing it, while pointing beyond it. My grandfather grieved with hope. Our neighbor may need more than time; she may need someone to help her find her way back.

Readers: how have you seen your church or family support someone whose grief seemed stuck?

Response to Olivia

Why this part earns its pointsThe response connects the classmate's reflection on successful aging to the final chapter's view of adaptation.
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Olivia, your blog on your great-aunt, who at 92 still teaches a Sunday school class from a wheelchair, beautifully illustrates the final chapter's idea of successful aging. Bjorklund (2015) presents successful aging not as the absence of illness but as adaptation, finding ways to keep doing what matters as abilities change. Your great-aunt cannot stand to teach, but she has kept the role that gives her purpose by adjusting how she fills it. Her story also connects to our earlier forum on retirement: purpose seems to survive loss when people find a new form for an old calling. Researchers who study adaptation describe the same strategy of choosing what matters, practicing it and compensating for losses, and your great-aunt seems to do all three. Do you think she planned these adjustments, or did they happen one at a time?

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References

Bjorklund, B. R. (2015). The journey of adulthood (8th ed.). Pearson.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Prigerson, H. G., Boelen, P. A., Xu, J., Smith, K. V., & Maciejewski, P. K. (2021). Validation of the new DSM-5-TR criteria for prolonged grief disorder and the PG-13-Revised (PG-13-R) scale. World Psychiatry, 20(1), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20823

What the PSYC 235 Week 8 instructions ask

PSYC 235 closes in Module/Week 8 with Blog 3, worth 20 points, beside Exam 4, the last of four 110-point exams, with Bjorklund's last two chapters and a presentation as the reading. Its format repeats Blogs 1 and 2: one entry posted to the course blog and a substantial response to one classmate's entry. The guide gives no word count for the entry and says responses need not be overly long, as long as they carry real substance, such as a question, a connection or a new piece of evidence. Because the final module ends on a Friday rather than a Monday, students have a shorter week to finish the blog and the exam.

How this PSYC 235 Week 8 example is built

The entry begins with two people the writer knows, one who grieved and recovered and one whose grief seemed frozen, and uses them to raise the question of when grief becomes a problem. It summarizes the chapter's account of typical grief and resilience, then explains the DSM-5-TR criteria for prolonged grief disorder through a validation study, including how the diagnosis differs from depression. A biblical concept about grieving with hope follows, and the entry ends with a question. The response connects a classmate's blog on successful aging to the chapter's closing ideas and to the earlier forum on retirement, showing how the course's themes fit together at the end.

PSYC 235 Week 8 grading rubric: where the points go

Blog 3 rewards an entry that engages the final chapters thoughtfully, describes research accurately and connects it to real experience with sensitivity, plus a response to one classmate that adds something of substance. Because grief is personal, graders look for respectful description of others and careful use of diagnostic language, avoiding labeling ordinary sorrow as disorder. Readable prose and accurate references to the textbook and any study round out the 20 points. As the last blog, it is also a chance to show how the course's ideas about change, stability and meaning fit together, which a strong entry often does in a sentence or two, for example by linking resilience in grief to the stability of emotional life described earlier.

PSYC 235 Week 8 help: mistakes that cost points

Bereavement blogs sometimes either avoid the research or turn into a clinical summary with no reflection. Pair one or two real or composite experiences with what the chapter says about typical and complicated grief, and use the new diagnosis carefully: most grief, even intense grief, is not a disorder. Change details to protect the people you describe. If you cite research, say how many people it studied and what it found. Keep the entry focused so there is time for Exam 4, and remember that the final week ends early. In the response, connect the classmate's entry to the closing chapter on successful aging or to an earlier module.

Related PSYC 235 sample papers

Other PSYC 235 weeks

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PSYC 235 Week 8 questions, answered

What is PSYC 235 Blog 3?

The course's third and final blog, due in Module/Week 8 for 20 points, in which students reflect on loss and successful aging and then answer one classmate's entry in some depth.

Where can I find a free PSYC 235 Week 8 sample paper?

Read a full PSYC 235 Week 8 blog here on grief, resilience and the new diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder, with a response to a classmate on successful aging.

What is prolonged grief disorder?

The DSM-5-TR name for mourning that stays severe and impairing well beyond the first year after a death, marked by yearning for or preoccupation with the deceased along with symptoms such as identity disruption and loss of meaning.

Is prolonged grief disorder different from depression?

In a validation study of three bereaved samples, the new diagnosis was distinct from major depression, PTSD and generalized anxiety, though people with it often had those conditions as well.

When does the final module of PSYC 235 end?

Modules normally run Tuesday through Monday, but the last one closes on Friday night, Eastern time, which leaves three fewer days for Blog 3 and Exam 4.

Use it as a model, or ask for your own

This paper is an original model written by our desk for study. It is not a submitted student paper and not an official Liberty University document. Read it for structure and reasoning, then write your own to the instructions in your Canvas course. If you want a version built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

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