Grief Counselors Must Understand the Function of Sadness
Emotions are extremely important to one’s biological survival. The interwoven nature of the soul and body interact with each other and effect each other. The emotions of the soul are
manifested in the body via various expressions or chemical reactions. These emotions also serve various functions. Grief Counselors should take into account these functions.
One example of an emotion is anger. Anger helps the person react properly to a threat and prepares the body for confrontation. It also gives the body the expressions and mannerisms needed to ward off others in hopes of a peaceful resolution.
The same holds true for sadness. Sadness as an emotion has a biological function that helps the body relate to lost and recover from it. It forces the mind to reflect and dwell on the lost and to adjust the new life of not having that person. Through dwelling and mourning, one comes to the reality that a loved one is lost but also comes to the reality of how one is going to deal with that loss. In addition to this, while sadness exposes one to exterior threats due to mourning, it does also awaken others to the fact that something is not right. This social functioning of sadness expresses need for help and allows other within the community to offer that help.
I would contend that all emotions serve a natural and biological functioning for healing of the body and socially interaction during emotional states. In this way, the soul is able to communicate via the body.
In conclusion, anger and sadness are all important emotions. They are not merely reactions to loss but also biological functions that stem from the mind and prepare the body for adaptation into a new state. Again, grief counselors need to understand this.
By Mark Moran, MA