{"id":1363,"date":"2019-12-28T23:02:19","date_gmt":"2019-12-28T23:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.49.72.74\/~otwellness\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2020-04-04T23:35:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T23:35:11","slug":"grief-and-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/otwellness.com\/?p=1363","title":{"rendered":"Cloudy Dark Days: Grief and Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover has-background-dim-20 has-background-dim\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/otwellness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Grief-and-Loss-gray-skies-225x300.jpg)\"><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">Grief and Loss<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Cloudy Dark Days<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Approximately ten of my friends and family members have gone through great loss this year \u2013 including myself and I am sure many of you who are reading this are also grieving, know someone who is grieving or has gone through the grieving process. I thought it would be beneficial to write a little bit about grief to help those who are mourning to understand what they are experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grief is a natural reaction to loss. It is a strong emotion\nthat is overwhelming regardless of where it stems from including the loss of a\nloved one, relationship, pet, health, dream, and even a job \u2013 and the list goes\non!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grief is real, should never be overlooked and a person\nshould never be told to get over it. Grief is something that you don\u2019t get over\nbut must go through to get to the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I want to encourage anyone who is reading this who is\ncurrently grieving a loss that the pain can ease through time. Give yourself\ntime to mourn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Signs of Grieving:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Decreased social interaction and social participation<\/li><li>Reduced performance in daily roles and routines<\/li><li>Not getting enough sleep or sleeping too much<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Feelings Associated with Grief:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Depression<\/li><li>Emotional numbness<\/li><li>Decreased desires<\/li><li>Agitation<\/li><li>Anger<\/li><li>Sadness<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Grief is both a personal and universal experience, varies\nand is influenced by the nature and impact of that loss. Two people can have\nthe same loss and experience the impact of that loss very differently. Some\ngrieve internally and may not cry while others may express their grief very\noutwardly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People who grieve must realize they cannot control the\nprocess and must be prepared for its various stages. Talking to others who\nunderstand the process of grief and are patient in helping to sort through\nthese strong aching emotions can be of great benefit. This includes speaking to\nyour doctor, grief counselor, joining a grief support group or talking to a\ntrusted and patient family member or friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#0066d1\" class=\"has-text-color\"><em>For me, a friend reminded me not to hold back my tears, but to cry if I needed to during my grieving process. She reminded me that tears are liquid pain and must flow to eventually heal. I did \u2013 over-and-over again until I was all cried out and felt a ton better!<\/em> &#8211; Thanks Steph!\u2764<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grieving can last for months or even years. Generally, pain\ndecreases as time passes and the bereaved begins to adapt to life with the\nloss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grief generally occurs in five (5) stages, but in no\nspecific order; and are a guide in the grieving process to help the bereaved to\nunderstand where they are in the process (Axelrod, 2019).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Denial and Isolation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Denial is the initial response when first learning about\nshocking news. For example &#8211; \u201cthis can\u2019t be happening\u201d. The bereaved also may\nrationalize. This is a protective measure and is normal when dealing with\noverwhelming emotions acting as a buffer to numb emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Anger<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As denial and isolation begin to decrease and reality\nbegins to set in, intense painful emotions are deflected as another protective\nmeasure from becoming too vulnerable to the pain; and therefore, is redirected\nand expressed as anger. Feelings of anger may be directed to anything and\nanyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Bargaining<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bargaining is a normal but weaker line of defense and is\noften done to regain control through a series of \u201cif only\u201d statements such\nas:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>If only we had known about this sooner\u2026.&nbsp;<\/li><li>If only God had\u2026.<\/li><li>If only we had been there\u2026.<\/li><li>If only if I had said \u201cno\u201d\u2026.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Most times, guilt accompanies bargaining because we begin\nto feel that we could have done things differently to have helped to save our\nloved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. Depression<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two types of depression are associated with grief. The\nfirst is a response to allegations and consequences relating to the loss of\nyour loved one. Regret, guilt, blame, sadness, and regret lead to this type of\ndepression. The second type of depression is more subtle where we begin to\nprivately and quietly prepare to separate and bid farewell to our loved\none.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;5. Acceptance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reaching the stage of acceptance is truly a gift because\nnot everyone is able to achieve it. When death is unexpected or sudden, some\nare not able to move beyond the stages of denial and anger. However, it is\nimportant to note that acceptance&nbsp;<em>not<\/em>&nbsp;a period of happiness\nbut generally marked by withdrawal and calm and&nbsp;<em>must<\/em>&nbsp;be\ndistinguished from depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, mourning is an intensely personal experience.&nbsp; No one can help you go through it more easily or will understand all your emotions, but others can help you to go through the process.&nbsp; The greatest thing you can do is to allow yourself to go through the process and mourn the loss as it comes over you.&nbsp; Resisting it will only prolong the natural healing process (Axelrod, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Grief and Loss:  How Occupational Therapy Can Help<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When someone goes through grief and loss, it becomes difficult to maintain and tend to the demands of everyday living.  It is important that a person goes through the grieving process while continuing to perform daily tasks such as rearing children, maintaining relationships, going to work or school, household management and various other areas of life.  This can be a very difficult thing to do especially if all a person desires to do is to socially isolate themselves from family, friends and responsibilities (which is the struggle for many).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Occupational therapy specializes in helping people to go through the grieving process in a healthy way while staying engaged in activities and tasks so that other areas in life do not fall a part.  Areas that Occupational Therapy may be of service is educating and training in coping strategies to increase or maintain emotional stability; and educating the client, family, and friends on the grieving process, what is expected and how to be supportive.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For more information and\/or help, please contact Life Wellness at Christa@OTWellness.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">References<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>American Occupational Therapy Association. (2014). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (3rd ed.). <em>American Journal of Occupational Therapy<\/em>, 68, S1\u2013S48. http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.5014\/ajot.2014.682006<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Axelrod, J. (2019). 5 stages of grief &amp;loss. <em>PsychCentral<\/em>. Retrieved from   https:\/\/psychcentral.com\/lib\/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Approximately ten of my friends and family members have gone through great loss this year \u2013 including myself and I am sure many of you who are reading this are also grieving, know someone who is grieving or has gone through the grieving process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[70,69,29,73,33,31,74,68],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cloudy Dark Days: Grief and Loss - Life Wellness Occupational Therapy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/otwellness.com\/?p=1363\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cloudy Dark Days: Grief and Loss - 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