What is Grief and
How Do You Deal
With It?

Grief is how we respond to loss. By loss, we often mean death, especially the death of a close friend or family member. But death isn’t the only reason we grieve. Losing anything that matters to us — like a relationship, a job, or even a plan for the future — causes grief. 

Everyone grieves differently, so there’s no right or wrong way to go about it. Still, learning more about grief, and how grief works, can help us better understand and deal with our emotions. And learning about grief can help us know whether we need help getting through the grieving process.

This article will cover the basics of grief, but it’s not intended to replace a mental health consultation. If you’re stuck in grief and need help, please make an appointment with a mental health care provider as soon as possible.

There’s no right or wrong way to grieve because grief looks different for everybody. We all think a little differently, and we all learn a little differently, so we also grieve differently. 

But we do have some common experiences in the grieving process. They can be both physical and mental experiences: 

• Physical manifestations of grief: These can include pain, nausea, numbness, dry mouth, shortness of breath, trembling, and fatigue.
• Emotional manifestations of grief: Common emotions include anger, restlessness, depression, loss of focus, anxiety, irritability, difficulty sleeping, hostility, and fear.

We can all experience different mixes of these and other symptoms of grief. The significance and circumstances of the loss play a role in our experience. So does the personality of the person who is grieving. That’s why no one can say whether someone else is grieving properly. 

What are the stages in the grief process?

In previous decades, psychologists and other mental health care professionals divided the grieving process into stages. The psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, for example, developed the “five stages of grief” to help her patients understand grief.

Over time the stages of grief became a popular way to understand the grieving process.

The stages of grief can still be useful, but the stages shouldn’t be treated like a to-do list. They’re just a way to categorize common human experiences.

These grief stages are:

• Denial: Some scientists think denial is our brain’s way of protecting itself from trauma, of giving itself time to prepare for the painful shock of losing something or someone important. People in denial may later characterize the experience as “magical thinking.” They were able to convince themselves the terrible news they’d just heard wasn’t true.
• Anger: Experiencing anger after a heartbreaking loss confuses some people, yet anger is a common emotion during grief. Why anger? Everyone grieves differently, so it’s hard to know. But some people report feeling angry about the unfairness of the situation or angry because they couldn’t prevent the loss from happening.
• Bargaining: People in grief might find themselves bargaining with a higher power. On the surface it seems like they’re proposing to trade something — better behavior in the future, for example for a different reality, one that does not include the heartbreaking loss they’re experiencing. This is really a way to focus on how things “should have been” or “would have been.”
• Depression: As the permanence of loss sets in, a lot of grieving people enter a period of depression. Depression works differently for different people, but it often includes turning inward and becoming less active. While depression is normal, prolonged depression may require help from a professional mental health provider.
• Acceptance: Acceptance doesn’t mean we’ve “gotten over” the loss. It just means we’ve accepted the loss as real and have started to adjust to the new reality.

It’s tempting to treat these stages like a roadmap to recovery from a painful loss. In real life, we tend to jump around from phase to phase. We may feel like we’ve accepted the loss one day only to feel angry again the next day.

Helping a friend or family member grieve requires patience. Remember that everybody’s journey with grief is unique. The way you successfully navigated grief in the past may not be the right path for your friend or relative.

Feel free to make suggestions, but remember you aren’t the authority on your friend’s grief. If your friend or relative doesn’t like your suggestions, that’s OK. In fact, that’s healthy. It’s not your job to “fix” your friend’s grief, no matter how much you may want to.

The best thing you can be is a safe place where the grieving person can share his or her deep emotional pain without fear or worry. When you can listen without an agenda, you can help.

And, it’s important to know when you’re in too deep. If there’s a chance your grieving friend or relative may be contemplating suicide or hurting someone else, call for backup. Dial 988.

Thanks to modern medicine and healthier lifestyles, people who live in developed societies can live a lot longer than they did in previous centuries. Compared to our ancestors, we’re much less likely to die from an infection or an industrial accident.

21st-century Americans, for example, could live for years, or even decades, without experiencing the death of a close friend or relative. But death can never be removed from the human experience. And, of course, other kinds of significant losses are part of any life.

Because of this potential for loss, grief is common. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, especially if you’re not familiar with the emotions you’re feeling. In fact, sometimes people get stuck or even lost in their grief.

What is complicated grief?

The normal symptoms of grief usually start to fade as the months pass and we accept the reality of our loss and what it means. For some people, this doesn’t happen. In fact, their grief may start getting worse.

The grief may become debilitating, and there’s no end in sight. We call this condition complicated grief.

Along with intense sadness, complicated grief can also include:

• Self-blame
• Intense sorrow
• Lack of purpose
• Chronic detachment from life
• Thinking about suicide

People with complicated grief need mental health care. Mental Health Associates of the Triad provides outpatient care for people in High Point, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and the surrounding areas.

Many cities in the United States have in-person, outpatient mental health clinics which you can find on Google or by asking your primary care physician. It’s also possible to schedule online counseling sessions.

If you’re thinking about hurting yourself or someone else, dial 988 to speak with a counselor today.  

What is anticipatory grief?

Grief can begin before the loss actually happens. We call this anticipatory grief. It’s common when someone has been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. People who are dying, along with their friends and family members, can experience this kind of grief.

Anticipatory grief doesn’t necessarily make the grieving process easier. In fact, it can be harder in some ways. Some people, for example, feel guilty about grieving while their friend or loved one is still alive.

If you’re experiencing anticipatory grief, it’s OK to feel the way you feel. It may be helpful to talk about your feelings with family and close friends or with a mental health care professional. 

How can I make it through the grief?
Will I be able to?

When you’re immersed in grief, it may seem like there’s no end to it, like you’re swimming across a pond on a foggy morning with no idea when you’ll reach the other shore.

If you feel lost in grief, the best way out is to speak with a mental health care provider. A trained counselor understands how grief works and can help ground you in your journey.

Ways to help yourself navigate grief

They’re not a substitute for the individualized care plan you could develop with a mental health care provider, but the following tips can help you navigate the grieving process:  

• Let yourself cry: Crying is part of the healing process. Trying to stave off tears can make grief worse.
• Be deliberate about your physical needs: When you’re grieving it’s easy to forget about nutrition, rest, and exercise. Even if you don’t feel hungry or sleepy, try to stick to a routine.
• Accept help from others: When you’re in grief, friends and family members will say things like, “I’m here if you need me” or “Let me know if you need anything.” So if you need something, don’t hesitate to ask — even if you just need someone to go fill up your gas tank or pick up your children from school.
• Seek out help from others: From support groups to simply getting together with a friend, conversations about grief can help us make it through. Try to talk with people who have experienced grief before because they can better understand how you feel. Just remember your experience will likely be different.
• Feel how you feel: Don’t judge yourself because of the way you feel. If you feel angry, that’s OK. If you feel like you’ve accepted the loss too quickly, that’s OK too. There’s a good chance you’ll feel differently tomorrow.
• Avoid major decisions: During grief, your brain isn’t working at its normal level, but you may not realize this at first. So, try to avoid making big decisions about life changes or finances.
• Plan ahead for holidays: Special times of the year like birthdays and holidays can be hard for people in grief. Try to set aside an hour or two — or a full day, if possible — to be alone before or after a big holiday.

Grief is hard. Be patient with yourself. Take care of yourself. Put yourself first.   

Everybody’s experience is different. You should seek grief support any time you feel like you need it. A therapist or counselor can help sort through emotions and identify causes and possible solutions at any time — not just when you’re having a crisis.

But deep emotional pain that shows no sign of improving could mean you need help navigating your grief. Counseling can guide you to better strategies than you’ve been using so far.

You should also seek help if you find yourself:

• Using substances such as alcohol or drugs to numb the pain
• Using food or excessive exercise to avoid dealing with grief
• Working excessively or using social interactions to distract yourself from the pain of grief

Be honest with yourself about your habits and your feelings. Temporary and unhealthy ways of dealing with complex grief can make grief worse and delay healing.

How can therapy help the grieving process for me?

A good therapist helps people explore their feelings. A counseling session offers a safe place where you can explain how you feel without worrying about how it sounds, without worrying about letting someone down, showing weakness, or monopolizing someone else’s time.

Sometimes simply talking about your feelings in a safe place allows you to better understand your emotions so you can navigate them better.

But other times, that’s not enough. So, once you’ve explained your experience and your feelings, a therapist can help you plan a better path forward. Grief is all about relearning how to live again. You could think of your therapist as a tutor, someone who helps you learn.

When you’re ready to get started, we’ll be here for you. Contact us today.