Losing a child is the ultimate loss. The loss can be worst if that child is murdered. All of these circumstances create the perfect storm for the worst type of grief a person can experience.
Losing a child to murder or violence is one of the worst pains in existence. Please also review our Grief Counseling Training
The article, “‘This doesn’t go away’: When your child is murdered, grief is only the beginning” by Ashley Luthern states,
“The outside world did not seem to care much about her son, either. Anthony’s death, the 85th homicide of the year, warranted a few clips on TV broadcasts and three paragraphs in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Certain manners of death — like a homicide or drug overdose — carry a social stigma that can be isolating and possibly lead to something called “disenfranchised grief,” said Handel, the psychotherapist.”
When death happens in a business setting it can upset the entire organization. The surviving colleague needs to take up the slack and help the organization forward. How to deal with this type of loss though can have many effects on the team. Many secondary losses can also be experienced as a whole to the company.
Losing a colleague at work can be difficult. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification
The article, “When a Colleague Dies, CEOs Change How They Lead” by Guoli Chen states,
“If the person doing the thinking is among the upper echelons of an organization, the recognition that their time on earth is all too finite can have a widespread impact across their company.”
With so much negativity surrounding video games, it is good to hear some healthy benefits of them. This is especially true in the case of grief. Video games allow individuals to live their emotions through other avatars. This can also be a very beneficial experience, especially in grief.
Video games can help individuals cope with grief. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification
The article, “How Video Games Help Us Process Grief” by Dana Folkard looks at how video games help the gamer deal with and express grief. The article states,
“We need a distraction from grief, something that has the potential to re-connect us with life. For some, video games can serve this purpose. For others it may be strenuous gym workouts, work, eating, drinking, walking, gardening and so on.”
Many role playing video games give the person the escape they need from grief. It enables them to live life through another, experience loss through others and relate with the character.
Grief is a process. It takes time to adapt and adjust to loss. Refusing to do grief work can lead to later complicated grief.
We cannot speed up or slow down our grief work. Please also review our Grief Counseling Training Program
This is not to say that one overcomes the sense of loss, but it does teach us that we can adjust and live life if we properly work through grief.
The article, “Live Well: Are you willing to dance with your painful partner named Grief?” by Jennifer Mulson states,
“This is about the time people often check out and begin to numb themselves through any manner of methods — food, alcohol, drugs — or preoccupy themselves so they don’t have to feel anything. But really, this is the moment to step into the emotions and feel them fully, even though it might feel as if you’ll be swept under a current of pain and never resurface.”
Good article on how we can better help the grief stricken. Certified Bereavement and Grief Counselors play a pivotal role in this. Stemming from a variety of disciplines, from pastoral to funeral, or behavioral to nursing, those who help others through grief, play a pivotal role in helping millions adapt and overcome loss. Certified Grief Counselors are specialized in this area of training and can help those who need the most professional guidance through the maze of grief.
Helping the bereaved is an important function of society as well as professionals. Please review on how to become a certified grief counselor
The article, “Bereavement Researcher: We Must Do Better for the Grief-Stricken” by Kevyn Burger looks at how professionals and society as a whole can better help those sticken by grief. The article states,
Today, mourning a death has few rules, traditions or identifiers. But research indicates that a significant loss is deadly serious, putting the grieving at higher risk for serious health problems, and even their own premature death.
If you are a professional looking to become a certified grief counselor, then please review our program and see if it matches your academic or professional needs.
It is amazing how wen one experiences grief, how real and different it is from simply reading about grief. One then is cast into the hell of reality that is about loss. Where emotions come and go and sadness remains a constant.
Experiencing the stages of grief can be overwhelming Please also review our Grief Counseling Program
The article, “What I Didn’t Understand About The Stages Of Grief — Until I Was In Them” by Caila Smith states,
My daughter died from SIDS when I was 22 years old. My life was just beginning, the best was supposedly yet to come, and I was hit with a head-on collision of life-shattering grief. Other than my grandma’s passing ten years prior, I’d never felt grief. So I definitely never thought about the stages that are known to go along with it.
After losing a child, many come to your side and listen. Many feel horrible about your loss and look to comfort you as well. However, soon as time goes by, even years, the need to discuss the loss becomes less and less. For those who never experience this, it appears over, but for those who have children or who have loss a child, realizes that such losses never go away. One may learn to adjust but the pain never ceases. In this way, it is another pain suffered by parents when the life of a child loss is years later no longer a topic.
It can be very difficult to discuss child loss BUT parents want to talk about it. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification
Others are fearful to discuss the loss of a child at any time. They fear the topic is too taboo or do not know how to bring up such a tragedy. In many cases, this makes it worse for the bereaved parents as well, who need the outlet to discuss the loss itself.
The article, ‘When people don’t want to talk about your child, it feels very lonely’ by Chloe Booker addresses this sadness. She states,
“The number one thing you can do to help someone in this scenario is to just talk about their child. It’s no different to a child on earth, to a child no longer here with us, you still want to talk about them.”
Good article on simply taking the time to write condolence letter for one in grief. It does not have to be deep but simply an acknowledgement of the loss. While somethings can be said that should not be, it is best to at least say something brief for the bereaved. This article looks at the importance of even a simple statement
Sometimes a short letter with flowers means so much for those suffering. Please also review our Grief Counseling Program
The article, The Gift of Shared Grief”: It’s hard to know what to say to people in mourning. Say something anyway.” by Margarat Renkl states,
When my mother died in 2012, she left behind a huge collection of memorabilia. Not just the usual love letters, family photographs and cherished recipe cards but also random items that almost no one else bothers to save. Parking tickets. Embossed cocktail napkins from the weddings of people I’ve never heard of.”
In grief and loss, we speak about tangible losses, losses, we can summarize, quantify, and then adjust and adapt to that loss. Whether it is the loss of a family member, or a relationship, or a precious thing, one can accept the fact that it gone and proceed with the healing processes of grief. The process of grief and adjusting to loss, however, is disrupting when unresolved grief occurs.
Unresolved grief can have many long term affects on a person. Please review our Certified Grief Counselor Program
What exactly is unresolved grief? Unresolved grief is a type of complication in the grieving process that prevents a natural and healthy conclusion to the loss. It prevents the person from accepting the loss, or moving forward in a healthy fashion. It leaves the person in a type of perpetual mental limbo.
This type of reaction can be internally or externally caused. If one has issues with the deceased that were never resolved, then an emotional soup of various feelings can emerge with no particular direction towards resolution. This can occur, especially with such cases as suicide, as well as with sudden death of a loved one. In some cases, there are unresolved emotional issues between the person and deceased that were never resolved while both were alive. This can lead to unresolved feelings later.
Apart from internal causes, external causes can put one in a state of unresolved grief. When a loved one is abducted or missing, then this can lead to a perpetual state of unresolved feelings. This is perhaps one of the greatest pains a parent can feel because they are in perpetual fear and anxiety of what has happened to their child. If the case never comes to a conclusion, the parents are never mentally allowed to find acceptance in the fact their child is probably dead. Without a proper funeral, justice, or verification, the parents and family can be scarred traumatically.
So many individuals suffer grave injustices in the world. From fugitives who escape justice to mass genocide, individuals who survive these crimes, face not only personal recovery, but also a resolution in regards to justice and the conclusion found in that justice. When justice is not handed out, the unresolved grief festers within the soul and demands justice to finally give them and the victims peace. This was especially true of the Holocaust survivors who faced not only their recovery from the person trauma, but also the demand of social justice against the criminals who perpetrated the crimes.
Through trials and justice, many find the conclusion they need to finally heal completely from the loss. Seeing a murderer or rapist brought to trial, gives the victim and families the closure they need to be able to rebuild their life. Without that closure, the unresolved issues of their grief will continue to haunt them.
Unresolved grief itself can cause anxiety, depression, lead to eruptions of anger and frustration, leaving the person in a state of emotional limbo. It is because of this, that clients need help in understanding what they can control and what they cannot. It takes more than merely a certified grief counselor but also a licensed mental counselor with grief training to help an individual through unresolved grief.
If you would like to learn more about Grief Counseling or would like to become a certified Grief Counselor, then please review our program and see if it matches your academic and professional needs.
Noone can comprehend the pain and suffering a parent suffers when they lose a child. This is perhaps the most painful cross on earth. Naturally it carries many complications for a parent who unnaturally buries a child.
The loss of a child can devastate any parent. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification Program
The article, What the Death of a Child Does to Parents, Psychologically and Biologically, by Joshue Krisch reviews the psychological, as well as biological tool on parents. He states,
“The death of a child may be considered the worst trauma that any human can experience. Though it’s not a terribly common experience in the United States—about 10,000 children between the ages of 1 and 14 died in 2016—the horrific potential for childhood mortality looms large.”
