Grief is about loss. The primary loss is not the end story of grief. Grief has many secondary losses associated with the primary loss.
Losses transcend just the initial shock but have waves of loss. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification
The article, “Four Types of Grief Nobody Told You About” by Sarah Epstein states,
“The word grief has come to be understood solely as a reaction to a death. But that narrow understanding fails to encompass the range of human experiences that create and trigger grief. Here are four types of grief that we experience that have nothing to do with death:”
The loss of a child and stillborn birth is a very traumatic type of loss for parents. This type of loss robs the parents of anything before life is able to experienced outside the womb. Cases vary if the child dies before or during birth, but the blunt reality of losing one’s child on its birthday is a cold reality that few ever recover from.
The loss of a child at birth or prior to birth is a tragic event. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification
The article, “Parents Mourning Stillbirth Follow Familiar Patterns on YouTube” by Christine Ro looks at some of the familiar patterns by parents from youtube. The article states,
“For 24 agonizing hours, Monica Franco-Pineda prepared to deliver a stillborn baby. She and her husband, Walter, had learned on Oct. 14, 2010, four days past her due date, that their son, Gabriel, no longer had a heartbeat. “I had a lot of time to digest what was going to happen,” she remembers.”
Divorce is a difficult transition. The loss of relationship, life style, and family can be very difficult. There are many secondary losses beyond the divorce that can affect one’s grieving process as well.
Divorce is more than emotional pain but also great loss. Please also review our Grief Counseling Program
The article, “6 Ways To Deal With Grief After Divorce — So You Can Heal & Move On” by Karen Finn states,
“Life after divorce involves a lot of agony in its wake and grief is an inescapable part of it. But the work to getting over it ending and dealing with grief after a bitter divorce can create another level of agony altogether.”
Please also review our Grief Counseling Program and see if it matches your academic and professional needs. In the meantime, be aware of the many facets of grief and loss that is wrapped up in divorce itself.
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.”
To review the entire article, please click here
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.”
To read the entire article, please click here
Also, please review our Grief Counseling Training Program and see if it matches your academic and professional needs.
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.”
