Many individuals lose identity with grief. A loss limb, or a loss of a loved one that they identify with. A father or mother may no longer feel like a parent if they lost a child. Grief can transform one’s identify of self.
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Program and see if it meets your needs. The Grief Counseling Training is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals.
Grief is unique. It is universal but different people can have different reactions and can grieve in multiple different ways. Grieving styles is how one expresses grief and there are multiple ways individuals express grief in a healthy way.
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification in grief counseling
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Loss of a sibling can occur at multiple times in a life. One can be young or old. This loss always stings but can vary in pain. It also can call into play the fragile nature of life and how quickly one can pass.
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Training Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals who wish to become a certified grief counselor.
With stress or grief, it is important to be able to bounce back. Individuals who have trouble coping with grief or stress have a hard time in life. Resiliency is the term referred to an individual’s ability to recover from stress and grief. Oscillation refers to the ups and downs of early grief. It also plays a role in how one recovers. The less steep peaks and valleys, the better the stabilization from the loss but this can take time and cannot be rushed
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification as a grief counselor.
Loss is terrible but unnatural loss is even more painful. One type of unnatural loss is the loss of a child. When a parent dies before a child, it creates a pain so great that many label it the worst loss and pain one can emotionally experience.
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification as a Grief Counselor.
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Grief Counselors are called to respond to grief. They are trained to listen to others and respond to the grieving process. Grief Counselors can help guide individuals through this maze of a process and help them find adjustment to the loss. Society also responds to grief in different ways.
The article, “Responding to the Grief of Others” by Grant Brenner looks closer at how grief is understood within society and how to respond. He states,
“Loss becomes more and more common as we get older. The same coping responses that serve us well at one time—disengaging from emotion, focusing on moving forward—may later lead to struggle as those adaptations characteristically pose barriers to self-awareness and connection with others. Healthy grieving requires not only drawing upon personal resources but also receiving appropriate support from those around us. This includes cultural responses to death and dying.”
To read the entire article, please click here
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional needs. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification in Grief Counseling.
Many individuals suffer from mild depression. They are able to function but something does not seem right in their life. The mild depression is enough to wear on them. Many need a little help to overcome this type of depression so they can fully restore themselves to life with new vigor.
The article, “Treatment for Mild Depression” by Sonya Matejko looks at the symptoms of mild depression and how to find the help one needs. She states,
“Even mild depression is different from just feeling a bit tired, sad, or irritable. After all, you’re human! Fluctuations in mood are common, and it’s natural to have days where you feel worse than usual. But what about when those emotions don’t go away after a couple of days, or even a couple of weeks? Maybe you can’t even point to exactly what’s wrong, only that you don’t feel like yourself. While everyone’s experiences and symptoms can and usually do differ, you could be going through a mild depression.”
To review the entire article, please click here
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification in Grief Counseling.
Grief is unique and reactions to grief and loss differ from person to person. Knowing family and friends is important in understanding how they grieve and react to loss. If we understand grieving patterns of family then we can better accompany them through grief and know when the time is to say or not say something. Due to the subjective reactions to loss, many multiple reactions can occur and no one can ever be completely sure of how someone will react. Still, there are certain ways the human species reacts to loss to give some blue print or guidance.
We are all familiar with the stages of grief, the reactions and phases one go through. We also know to limit grief to mere stages that go in order is wrong, but instead, grief while having various emotional reactions can have a unpredictable set of reactions in any order. Individuals experience grief in waves, oscillations, and in steps forward and steps back. The common emotions of numbness, sadness, anger, guilt and denial are the primary ones we see in the grieving but how these emotions are expressed differ from person to person.
Some individuals are extroverts, while others are introverts. An introvert will seek solace and quiet to dwell on the grief, to find the inner healing needed. Unfortunately, sometimes extreme introverts can seek to escape other human companionship and fall into isolation. Extroverts on the other hand cope and deal with grief through finding healing and energy from without themselves and seek counsel and discussion with others. This can be healthy but if without any inner balance can be fruitless in finally healing oneself. Balance is key. Avoidance of extremities in either introvert or extrovert behavior is important for ultimate healing.
Grieving styles still can differ in the way the individual thinks, acts, or feels. Some individuals are more cognitive, others more emotional and others more pragmatic. Sometimes how one reacts to grief is totally stereotypical and gender assigned. For example, saying only women will reactive emotionally is a blanket statement that is not true. Many men may be emotional as well, while other women may be very pragmatic in their grief reaction. It is important in grief counseling not to type cast a griever but to sojourn with the bereaved and see how their unique reaction grief surfaces and how they cope.
Cognitive grievers think through grief. This can be good and bad. Again balance is key. Cognitive individuals can cope better via reframing negative situations into positive ones, as well as look for cognitive answers through media and books to find solutions. They may also be more clear in their thinking during a loss. These benefits can be counter balanced though with individuals who express pain through pessimism or obsessive compulsive behaviors. Some may also become argumentative in their expression of grief or even suppress emotion.
Emotional grievers utilize emotion as the primary coping mechanism. In healthy fashion, they release sadness or anger and feel better. Releasing emotion is key in coping but also releasing negative stress from harming the body. However, on the flip side of the coin, emotional grievers can also become too depressed or sad and cease to be able to function. They may also unable to cognitively understand the process of grief itself.
Pragmatic grievers or those who feel the need and call to act also have benefits and disadvantages. Those who are more pragmatic look to actions that can resolve situations. They can also utilize hobbies and work to help them go through the grief itself. They can also more easily utilize exercise to release negative emotions. However, hobbies and busy work help one but also emotionally harm by ignoring the loss and trying to hide from it. Many of them avoid talking about their grief and can become angry at those who wish to discuss the loss.
What one can see from these types of grief styles is that one there is good and bad that can come from each style but a better solution is a more balanced reaction to loss that allows one to think, feel and act as necessary. Again, we cannot impose certain standards on others, but if coping over a loss is becoming pathological, then one may seek to question one’s particular grief style.
Ultimately it is key for families going through grief to understand each other’s grieving styles and to be there for each other the best way they know how. In doing so, individuals can better heal at their own way and own pace without emotional damage.
If you would like to learn more about AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Program then please review it and see if it matches your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification as a grief counselor.
Sources and Other Reading
The Unwanted Gift of Grief: A Ministry Approach by Tim P. VanDuivendyk
Depression is a difficult thing to deal and cope with. Many individuals do not know how to help others through depression and usually end saying the wrong thing. It is important to understand what depression is and how to help others through it.
The article, “The One Phrase You Should Avoid Saying To Someone Living With Depression” by Kendall Keith reviews how one should discuss depression with the depressed. The article states
“No matter how well-intentioned, people can offend those experiencing a depressive episode with insensitive or thoughtless advice. “Oftentimes, because of our own anxieties and distress, we go into ‘fix it’ mode when we know someone else is in distress, and we try to remove or eliminate what we see as the ‘problem,’” Abrams explains. “Because this becomes our focus and not our loved one’s needs right in that moment, we can really miss connecting emotionally with them and being present, which is often remarkably soothing.”
To review the entire article, please click here
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Training and see if the program matches your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification
There are different types of depression that can affect someone. Some are directly correlated to an event while others are internal issues with the brain and various chemicals and hormones within the body. Others are environmentally related and others affect individuals in different waves and cycles.
It is important to note that in many cases depression does not have a reason. Major Depressive and Persistent Disorders, as well as Bi-Polar and Seasonal Depression have no true loss associated with them. They merely exist within the individual. Other depressions may have a root cause but regardless if intense grief persists it is important to find professional assistance in dealing with the mood.
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year Grief Counseling Certification.
It is important to note that only certified grief counselors that ARE ALSO LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS can treat depression. If not licensed or permitted by the state to help with mental pathology, then grief counselors without license should always refer their clients with depression to licensed professionals.