Grieving

1 Pages 303 Words

Grief is a natural and necessary process experienced by all people, to one degree or another, after the occurrence of a loss.
Significant losses, such as the death of someone close to you, the breakup up of a close relationship/friendship, or the loss of hopes and dreams, are some of life’s most stressful occurrences. Grieving is an adaptive response to loss. It is not a weakness, but an experience which requires time, patience, and hard work.Grieving is a process unique to each individual. Different people (even members of the same family) experience their grief in different ways.Grief may be complicated by prior experiences of loss, traumatic events surrounding the loss (e.g. suicide), a history of difficult relationships, or other social or personal factors (e.g. lack of social support). It can be especially helpful to seek assistance when a grieving process is complicated by other factors or events.
For most people, the intense emotional pain of grief subsides. Eventually, energy is refocused on the future. However, if your grief response does not gradually lessen in intensity or, over time, continues to interfere with your academic, social or occupational functioning, then you may benefit from receiving assistance. Many individuals report experiencing a period of numbness or shock immediately following a significant loss. This may occur whether the loss was anticipated (as in the case of a friend dying of a terminal illness), or was unexpected (as in the case of one partner suddenly announcing the dissolution of a relationship). Following this period of shock, people may experience a time of intense emotional upheaval, during which the full impact of the loss may be experienced. Here, your emotions may be overwhelming or frightening. They may temporarily interfere with your academic, social, or family life. The severity and duration of a grief reaction will vary from person to person....