Substance Use Some people find the pain too difficult and may turn to alcohol or drugs to ease their pain. Unfortunately, there is no easy fix to make the loss easier to bear. Both alcohol and drugs are likely to make the situation more difficult to cope with, because both may contribute to irrational thoughts and depressed moods. Depression after a traumatic death is common. You may need short-term medication prescribed by your doctor to help you cope with everyday stressors while grieving. If so, do not consider it a weakness. You have suffered severe trauma and de- serve professional help to begin feeling better physically and mentally. You may only need medication prescribed for a short amount of time. Psychological and Emotional Responses to Traumatic Grief Although everyone’s grief response is different it’s important for you to take note of those grief reactions that are particularly common so that if you experience them, you will know what’s happening to you. Some common grief reactions may include: Isolation As someone who is grieving the death of a loved one who died due to an underage drinking
tragedy, you may feel isolated. There may be some people around you who fail to acknowl- edge your feelings of grief. Additional pain is
Everyone deals with grief differently.
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