What is grief?
Grief is the natural response to loss. It affects every part of us – feelings, body, mind, spirit and relationships with others. Everyone's grief is unique.
Grief is the natural response to loss. It affects every part of us – feelings, body, mind, spirit and relationships with others. Everyone's grief is unique.
Grief has no set pattern or order, the depth and duration of each grief experience is different for everyone. Yet those who experience grief share common reactions and responses. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. It helps to know what is and isn't a normal reaction to loss, so that you can recognise when you or others may need professional counselling and support.
While everyone grieves in their own way, it is normal for grieving to involve a range of strong feelings, physical symptoms, patterns of thought, behaviours and spiritual responses. These responses can be at a level that disrupts someone's capacity to function and manage the demands of day to day living.
Feelings – the experience of loss
- Numbness – initially the body goes on autopilot
- Sadness – a deep emotional response
- Shock and disbelief
- Loneliness, emptiness and isolation
- Denial and difficulty accepting the loss
- Anxiety, frustration, blaming, agitation
- Guilt, regret, helplessness; a sense of not doing enough
- Fear, anxiety and/or depression
- Relief
- Panic
- Anger
- Feeling out of control
- Lack of emotions
- Acceptance – the path of healing and new meaning
Physical symptoms – the sensations
- Pain – chest, stomach, headache, joints
- Dizziness
- Tiredness – a deep sense of fatigue
- Sensitivity – to noise and light
- Muscle weakness, shakes or trembling
- Changed digestion – nausea, diarrhoea or constipation
- Difficulty swallowing
- Dry mouth
Thoughts – the mental impact
- Confusion – muddled and disorganised
- Poor concentration – distractibility, absent mindedness
- Obsession – preoccupation with what happened
Behaviours – the grief expression
- Eating – more or less appetite than usual
- Crying – weeping at any time
- Overactivity – restlessness, needing to be busy, but sometimes aimless
- Seeking – the reason for illness and death
- Substance abuse – increased use of alcohol and/or medications
- Difficulty sleeping – also wishing to sleep more
- Dreaming – about who died and what happened
Social behaviours
- Withdrawal – inability to socialise or avoidance of others
- Feeling alienated or detached, or needing to be with others.
Spiritual responses – the spiritual impact
- Loss of meaning and purpose
- Questioning faith and beliefs
- A sense of emptiness
- Loss of joyfulness
- Loss of direction
"Bereavement is what happens to you, grief is what you feel and mourning is what you do."
~ Celia Hindmarch author of On The Death Of A Child
"When my son died and the initial numbness faded I felt that I had been torn open, my insides emptied and then loosely stitched together again. I feared that even the slightest, most well meaning comment or memory could pull the stitching and I would fall apart. Now, four years on that intensity has faded and life is not so raw but I am a different person to the one I was before losing my child. I am learning to live with, understand and accept this new person who is me, but I think it will be a long journey and I shall always miss my child."
~ Hilary Rowe 2013
Next: Grief – What You Can Do