Loss and Bereavement
Losing someone that we love or care about is very painful… We can experiment many different emotions and feel that this sadness will never leave us…That’s a normal reaction to a significant loss.
People experiment bereavement in many different ways, however, there are some common symptoms, like: shock and denial; deep sadness; guilt; rage; fear; and physical symptoms.
As time goes by, over the course of the mourning process, generally a period of six to twenty four months, most people start to notice an enlargement of their capacity to tolerate their loss. Although, it’s common that sadness feelings endure for many years, their ability and resilience to deal with the loss improves.
When the mourning is complicated...
Some people experiment a chronic and complicated bereavement, and the mourning is extended beyond the two years, and their symptoms are similar to a major depression, generalized anxiety and trauma.
The sadness of losing someone that we love never goes away completely, but if the pain of this loss remains so intense and constant that restrains you from living your own life, you may be experiencing a complicated bereavement. The complicated bereavement is like being prisoner of an intense state of suffering.
Symptoms of a complicated bereavement include: an intense longing for the person we have lost; thoughts or intrusive images about the loving person; denial of the lost situation; looking for the lost person in familiar places; avoiding things that remember the lost person; intense rage and bitterness about the loss; feelings of an empty and meaningless life.
Other symptoms that may suggest a depression situation are: an intense feeling of guilt; suicide thoughts or worry about death; feelings of desperation and devaluation; slowing of speech and corporal movements; inability to function at work, at home and/or at school; visual or hearing hallucinations.
In these circumstances, it is important to seek the help of a professional.