Grief. Something you think of when you have experienced a death. But what about when your life comes to a halt, things have drastically changed, you lost your job, or desperately want life to go back to normal? Grief is not just caused by the death of a loved one.
Some things to take note of that may be a sign that you’re experiencing grief are the following, note that grief is both emotional, mental, and physical:
Some people are experiencing traumatic grief. Traumatic grief is when one experiences the loss that is sudden, quick, and life-altering. This means you are not just mourning these losses, but traumatized by the loss. People experiencing this may be experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks, some may cease to function normally, triggers (hello news and social media…please stay away from these right now), anger, intense anxiety and fear, intense emotions overall, and significant negative thoughts. Those experiencing traumatic grief have an increased likelihood of struggling with their healing process. EMDR can be really helpful for the healing process of traumatic grief.
So how are we grieving right now? It looks exactly the same for everyone right? Not exactly.
I am happily here to tell you that these stages are not always in order, you don’t always hit each stage, and you may go back and forth between stages. There is also no timeline for grief. So you might hang out in a stage for some time. I am also here to tell you this is okay.
So, what are these stages?
Especially when there doesn’t feel like an end in sight right now. It’s hard to look at starting to put the pieces back together when you’ve just lost your financial security. First, notice that you feel this way. Check in with others. Grief is hard to go through, so here are helpful ways to start coping with it:
If you feel like this article resonated with you, give us a call. My fellow therapists at Lifeologie and I have some great tools to help you get through this and we feel grateful to be those who can do that right now, to provide some calm. We’re all in this together and recovery from this is possible.
Amanda knows that coming to therapy can be tough. She will put you at ease within minutes. Amanda works with people that have experienced trauma, are struggling with substance use, and with new mommas and poppas being impacted by pregnancy-related concerns! She loves using EMDR, just ask her about it!