Grief Counselling
Grief is a normal emotional response to loss. A sense of loss can be experienced in different ways: the loss of a job, a marriage, a friendship, or hope. Most commonly, people seek grief counselling to work through feelings of loss associated with the death of someone in their life.
Grief counselling is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on processing loss. This involves working with a psychotherapist to process difficult thoughts, feelings, and memories associated with loss while talking about the circumstances surrounding what has happened in your life since the loss. Grief counselling can help you better understand your own thoughts and feelings, build new coping strategies for emotional containment, and eventually reach a place of acceptance. It can also help you build new relationships, understand how your spirituality in this context, normalize your grief, and cope with loneliness.
Generally, grief or bereavement counselling helps an individual gain acceptance of their new reality, while working through the emotional storm going on inside, and figure out how to re-engage in life. Meaning-making, connection, strengths-based strategies, and emotional expression are common components of grief counselling.
Grief is often messy and healing from loss is non-linear.
Different Types of Grief
- Complicated Grief
The DSM-5-TR has labelled complicated grief as "Prolonged Grief Disorder" to describe individuals who experience "a persistent and pervasive grief response characterized by longing for the deceased or persistent preoccupation with the deceased accompanied by intense emotional pain (e.g., sadness, guilt, anger, denial, blame, difficulty accepting the death, feeling one has lost part of one's self, an inability to experience positive mood, emotional numbness, difficulty in engaging with social or other activities." - Traumatic Grief
Traumatic grief occurs when someone you care about dies suddenly, in a traumatic event, or witnessing them become severely injured. - Concurrent Depression and Grief
Symptoms of grief and depression look similar. Experiencing grief can trigger a depressive episode, which means that you could benefit from strategies that target depression symptoms. - Disenfranchised Grief
Disenfranchised grief occurs when someone's grief is restricted. It could be dismissed, unacknowledged, or rejected by society's standards of appropriate grief. A few examples follow:
- Loss of a pet
- Loss of a relationship
- Miscarriage
- Loss of a loved one by dementia or Alzheimer's disease
"Grief, I've learned is really just love. It's all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go." - Jamie Anderson
References
- Bonanno, G. A., & Kaltman, S. (2001). The varieties of grief experience. Clinical psychology review, 21(5), 705-734.
- Doka, K. (2002). Disenfranchised Grief. In K. J. Doka (Ed.), Living with Grief: Loss in Later Life (pp. 159-168). Washington, D.C.: The Hospice Foundation of America.
- Kersting, K. (2004, November). A New Approach to Complicated Grief. Monitor on Psychology, 35(10). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/nov04/grief.aspx
- Major Depressive Disorder and the “Bereavement Exclusion”. (n.d.) American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved from http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Bereavement%20Exclusion%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
Benefits:
- Effectiveness. Research shows that online therapy can be just as effective as in-person therapy for issues related to mental health.
- Accessible. Accommodates those living in rural or remote areas, people living with disabilities that prevent them from leaving the home, and eliminates transportation barriers.
- Convenience. No need to schedule time for a commute.
- Cost Effective. Eliminates cost of parking and transportation.
Considerations:
- Coverage. Some insurance companies may not cover it. We encourage you to check with yours.
- Confidentiality and Privacy. Although we use encrypted, HIPAA-compliant software and abide by telehealth guidelines, communicating over the Internet entails a greater risk for security breach compared to in-person. It also means possible Internet connectivity issues.
- Distractions. Possibilities for disruption depending on your living circumstances and others in the home.
Benefits:
- Trust and Body Language. Some people may prefer viewing the entire body language of their therapist for more effective communication.
- Severe mental health or psychiatric concerns. A more appropriate and accommodating option for people that may need crisis intervention that is better supported with in-person care.
- Participation. It is an opportunity to engage in an activity outside of your home.
Considerations:
- Time consuming. Ensuring commute time may be challenging for busy schedules.
- Expenses. Possible parking and transportation fees.
All virtual sessions are conducted using secure, HIPAA-compliant software. Research has shown that psychotherapy offered through telehealth is an effective solution for mental health treatment. The efficacy of either option depends on individual preference and comfort level.