Grief Counseling: Help When You Need It
Is it normal to be sad?
Grief is the process of coming to terms with the loss or death of someone close to you. It can also be lost due to a love breakup, divorce, illness, loss of property due to fire or theft.
People react to loss in their own unique way. Others can easily cope with it. But some people find it difficult to see reality become a tangled mess of self-pity and depression. Grief Counselling Toronto is a typical reaction when a person loses someone or something dear to them. It usually takes two years for someone who has lost a loved one to recover. Some will overcome the grieving process within this time, while others will suffer from depression that lasts for years.
Grieving Person’s Disability Syndrome
A person who is grieving may become so impaired that all normal functions cease. He may decide to keep to himself and avoid any form of social contact. Outbursts of extreme emotions, such as anxiety, anger, guilt, confusion, and numbness, can be expressed so intensely that they lead to confused thoughts and irrational actions.
Another situation is if you are in anticipatory sadness. This happens when the person is faced with the imminent death of a loved one. This also happens when a loved one is terminally ill. A grieving person has difficulty seeing reality and either holds onto or lets go of the situation.
condolence counseling
The grieving process usually takes time. There are people who are sad but don’t feel depressed. However, about 33% of people who grieve experience depression within one year of the loss. About half of these proportions remain depressed after one year. In some people with a history of depression, strong feelings of guilt can lead to thoughts of suicide, death, worthlessness, and hallucinations.
When this happens, you may need the help of a grieving counselor to get you through the grieving process. These counselors can come from competent health centers that can help people cope with this situation. Because people react differently to grief, psychiatrists are usually not in the best position to diagnose a person with a mental illness during bereavement. However, a grief counselor will be the best person to help the grieving person overcome their grief by showing support and compassion for their plight. Counseling will be a form of positive reinforcement that allows the grieving person to live on their own without the deceased. A grieving counselor will talk about the person’s loss and support him or her to come to terms with it. He will encourage the person to make their own decisions and perhaps help them form new relationships. A grieving counselor will be the best expert in helping that person get through the grieving process. And reassure him that what he is experiencing is a typical normal reaction to loss and not a sign of insanity.