Psychological and Emotional Responses to Traumatic Grief Denial Denial can be a wonderful thing. It is the mind’s way of buffering the full impact of a trauma until it can be absorbed. Upon learning that a loved one has been killed, most people are too weak to undertake the overwhelming task of grieving. When you heard of your loved one’s death, you may have gone into shock. Going into shock is something like feeling the effects of a gen- eral anesthetic. With the help of a quick spurt of adrenaline and other chemicals in your brain, your initial response may have been “fight” or “flight” or “freeze.” Fighters Be patient with yourself.
sometimes scream so they won’t hear the message or physically attack the person who has
delivered the bad news. Those whose reaction is “flight” may faint or run to try to escape the pain.
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