Grief and Bereavement

Bereavement can normally be described as the feeling of loss when a loved one dies, and it will affect everybody, whether directly or indirectly, in different ways. Some people do not experience a feeling of bereavement after someone close to them dies, as there may be long-standing reasons for them not to feel upset that they have actually passed. Experts generally accept that there are four stages of bereavement.

First of all is accepting that the loss is real and the person is actually no longer alive, some people go into denial and convince themselves that this has not actually happened. These people may seem fine on the outside but they will undoubtedly be feeling great amounts of pain on the inside.

The second stage is actually experiencing the pain of grief, accepting the situation is in fact real. This is typically shown through being extremely sad, emotional, and sometimes even falling into depression as a result of their loss. Some people will have huge shifts in their personality, all related to the trauma of the death.

The third stage is adjusting to life without the person who has died, and finally, the last stage is starting to move on. This normally begins by the grieving person putting less emotional energy into grieving and more into something else, a sense of moving on, of beginning to return to normal, whatever that may look like in the future.

When talking about bereavement, it’s believed that a person probably goes through all of these stages, and sometimes in different orders. People can also sometimes move backwards at points and do not necessarily move smoothly from one stage to another. Each person will experience bereavement and grief differently, so we must always be respectful of others around us, showing patience and care towards their situation.