Therapy for Grief and Loss
Therapy for Grief and Loss
What is Grief?
The grieving process involves all aspects of your being including your thoughts, behaviors, physical and spiritual being. While grief most commonly follows a major life event, like a death, divorce, major financial loss, or miscarriage, it also can come as a result of smaller, less life-altering losses.
Additionally, there are ambiguous losses which may be less obvious to others, but can still cause powerful grief reactions. Ambiguous loss can refer to the loss of an individual who is still physically present but psychologically absent. This is often experienced by family members of individuals who suffer from dementia, addiction, chronic mental illness, or traumatic brain injury.
This type of ambiguous loss may also happen when one is still emotionally present but physically absent, for example when there is no formal closure, as in the case of a missing person, the loss of an affair or hidden relationship.
Regardless of the cause, grieving may take on various forms and can appear differently depending on the individual. Sometimes, individuals, couples, or families can benefit from extra support to work through the complex feelings associated with their loss as each person experiences it in their own unique way. There are also physical, emotional, social, and spiritual responses to loss that will vary from person to person.
Symptoms
Some common displays of the grieving process, including:
- Feeling depressed
- Frequent crying
- Numbness or shock
- Loneliness and isolating behaviors
- Avoidance of reminders of the loss
- Preoccupation with the loss
- Guilt
- Fear
- Anxiety
- Increased drug or alcohol use
- Feelings of hopelessness or emptiness
- Loss of interest in activities you once used to enjoy
Many components of grief often mimic depression and can turn into a depressive episode if left unresolved.
Stages of Grief
While everyone is different, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s model of grief can often be helpful as a way to understand the grieving process. This model includes five states of grief that many people experience following a major loss:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
While these stages can serve as a general guideline, it’s important to remember that they are not always linear and that you may return to certain stages throughout your grieving process. When grieving, it’s essential to be patient with yourself and understand that progress is not always straightforward.
How can we help? Our therapists specialize in therapy for eating disorders. We use evidence-based practices in our therapeutic approach including, EMDR, CBT, and Virtual Reality therapies.
Therapists Who Can Help
(832) 315-5793