Grief counselling
What is grief?
Grief is a normal response to loss. The loss could involve the loss of a loved one, of a home, a country, an animal, a future, a functioning body, health, or a career...etc.
Loss exists in various forms, and each loss brings with it a grieving process.
The grief reaction is how the mind and body process the loss.
Grief can include a range of feelings like anger, denial, a sense of disconnection or numbness, sleeplessness, trouble concentrating, nightmares, stomach aches, guilt, loneliness, irritation with others...etc.
It looks different for everybody. Eventually, and over time, grief gets integrated into the rest of our lives. We remember the lost loved one, and hold them close, but no longer expect them to be alive. The pain lessens as we adapt to reality.
Sometimes, grief can get stuck before it's had a chance to get processed. When this happens, people can feel increasingly numb, disconnected, uninterested in life around them, and potentially irritated with the world which seems to 'keep going' despite the tragedy that has happened. This is when grief becomes 'complicated grief'.
How can grief counselling help?
Grief counselling can help you move through different parts of the grief journey. It doesn't matter how long ago your loved one passed, different people need support at different points.
If you have started to feel numb or uninterested in life, and if the world has begun to feel empty, it might be a sign that the grief has become 'frozen'.
In this case, grief counselling can be particularly helpful.