About Grieving

Overview

Grief is a normal and necessary response to the loss of a loved one or the loss of control over your own life. Everyone experiences grief differently, and the amount of time it takes to recover from grief, and accept the loss, is different for everyone. While there is no point trying to prevent or deny grief, there are steps you can take to ease the process.

Causes

The death of a spouse, child, parent, friend or beloved pet is likely to trigger a period of deep grief. Grief is also a normal response to the end of any meaningful relationship, job loss, miscarriage, loss of financial stability or your own diagnosis of a chronic or terminal disease.

Symptoms

Grief is a profound sadness. When you are grieving, you may find it difficult to sleep and to concentrate on work. You may have uncontrollable crying spells. If you are grieving over a death, you may also feel afraid of being alone or about your own mortality.

It is common to feel a sense of disbelief immediately after the event that triggers grief. It is also common to feel guilt over missed opportunities or anger at yourself or others over the loss. You may even feel angry at someone who has died, for leaving you alone.

Physical responses such as aches, pains, nausea and fatigue are also common symptoms of grief.

Stages

Many people move through some or all of five somewhat predictable stages of grief. These include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance of the loss. You may not experience any of these stages but instead experience extreme highs and lows until you reach acceptance.

Coping

You may get enough support from family and friends to move through the stages of grief without any other help. Some people cope with grief by joining a support group of people who have had similar experiences. Others seek advice from religious figures, doctors or mental health professionals.

If you have been grieving for more than 2 months and your grief interferes with your job, home life or relationships with anyone else, you may need to seek professional treatment.

Treatment

Because grief can lead to depression and affect your physical health as well, your doctor or mental health professional may recommend medication. While medication is not normally prescribed to help a person cope with grief and, in fact, may block and delay the grieving process, grief that is complicated by clinical depression may need to be treated with antidepressants to prevent further problems.