What is Grief counseling?

Grief is the emotional response to a loss, typically that of a loved one. Grief can encompass many different emotions — sadness, anger, guilt — as well as have significant mental and physical impacts on those suffering from it. Many people are familiar with the five stages of grief that Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross coined in her book On Death and Dying more than 50 years ago. Kübler-Ross conceived the model to describe the emotional journey of the dying. She theorized that people working through grief follow a particular pattern:

• Denial

• Anger

• Bargaining

• Depression

• Acceptance

While this provides a basic framework for understanding grief, researchers have since expanded on the model to account for the highly individualized nature of grief. Many people experience these stages in a different order, or they may not experience all of them, and feelings of grief can recur throughout a person’s life.

Most people naturally resolve or figure out how to manage their grief over time. For many others, these emotions persist and can have severe negative impacts on their lives. The purpose of grief counseling is to help people navigate this complex process and learn how to grieve in a healthy way.

What Is Grief Counseling?

Accepting loss and dealing with the emotions that come with it can be a painful process. While some people are able to work through grief on their own, others struggle to cope and may need professional assistance in the form of counseling. What is grief counseling? It’s a form of therapy designed to help people work through the various stages and emotions of grief following a loss. Counseling can help individuals avoid some of the more acute manifestations of grief and process their emotions in a healthy manner. According to famed psychologist William Worden, the following are the primary objectives of grief counseling:

Accept the Loss

One of the first and most critical steps in working through grief is coming to terms with the reality of a loss. Denial is a natural response, allowing individuals to pace their grief and the pain that comes with it. However, to truly cope with grief and heal, you must learn to acknowledge the loss.

Work Through the Pain

Many people respond to a loss and the ensuing grief by trying to avoid it and suppress their emotions. This only compounds their suffering. An essential part of managing your grief is experiencing the pain that comes from it and persevering.

Adjust to Life

When people experience grief, it’s generally because they lost someone or something that was a huge part of their lives. Adapting to a loss can be extremely challenging and can even feel like a betrayal. This reasoning can leave you feeling stuck. Grief counseling can help reorient and restructure your life after a loss.

Maintain a Connection

While accepting a loss and adjusting to life after it are essential steps in the grief process, it’s also important to maintain a connection to what was lost. When a loved one dies, for example, it can be helpful for the bereaved to remember the happiness that person brought instead of focusing only on the pain of the person’s absence.

Types of Grief

While it’s generally associated with the death of a loved one, grief can also stem from other traumatic experiences, such as the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, and these can be felt just as acutely. Additionally, you could have grief take many different forms, including:

Complicated grief is a type of grief in which the symptoms are persistent (lasting up to a year or longer) and intense, making it hard for you to function normally. People experiencing complicated grief may feel hopeless or detached and are preoccupied with thoughts of who or what they’ve lost. Estimates vary, but according to WebMD, between 5% and 10% of bereaved people experience complicated grief.

Maladaptive grief is a type of grief in which you are consumed by loss and attempt to cope in ways that are harmful. You may try to avoid reminders of what was lost or engage in self-destructive behaviors.

Broken heart syndrome is a type of grief in which the stress caused by grief takes a physical toll. With intense grief, the body may release stress hormones that cause part of your heart to swell and beat irregularly, causing chest pain similar to a heart attack.

Depression is also one of the stages of grief. Certain symptoms of grief, such as anxiety or hopelessness, can look like depression, but they’re different. Grief-stricken people may experience depression, which can make the grieving process worse. Signs of depression include trouble sleeping, fatigue, and poor appetite, along with feelings of self-pity or loneliness.

Benefits of Grief Counseling

Grief counseling isn’t some miracle cure for dealing with loss. It won’t help you forget about a deceased loved one or avoid the pain of loss. Instead, it can help you understand, accept, and manage emotions to live a full life.

Different Grief Counseling Techniques and Interventions

Many different methods can help you work through loss. Medications such antidepressants or sedatives can help manage some symptoms of grief, but these are generally best used as a temporary solution. Grief counseling is considered a more effective and sustainable approach. Each person’s grief journey is unique, and thus we employ a wide variety of grief counseling techniques and interventions to help guide you through it. It gets better, we can help. Reach out to us today to learn how.