Understanding Grief

Bereaved people may experience a number of responses. Here is a list of some of these:
  • Shock/numbness
  • Tightness in the chest/throat.
  • A dry throat.
  • Hollowness in the stomach.
  • Over sensitive to noise
  • Breathlessness
  • Sleeplessness
  • Tiredness/loss of energy.
  • Poor appetite/over eating.
  • A sense of disconnectedness
  • Searching – visiting places that remind one of the deceased person.
  • Avoidance – not wanting to be reminded of the dead person.
  • Restlessness – becoming overactive. Trying to keep busy.
  • Relief – That suffering is ended.
  • Sadness – Feeling down, depressed. Feeling helpless.
  • Anger – at a range of people, e.g., the medical people, family, God, the deceased.
  • Guilt – All the “if onlys”.
  • Anxiety – about the future, about one’s health.
  • Disbelief – a refusal to believe what one has been told or seen.
  • Confusion – difficulties in remembering things, poor concentration, feeling disorganised.
  • Preoccupation – going over and over the story of the death.
  • Bargaining – thinking of ways of getting the dead person back.
Grief and Death
Suicide and Self-Harm