Self Help Guide
1. Denial Denial may be your first reaction to the loss of a loved one. It is nature’s way of letting in only as much as you can handle, acting as a defence mechanism from the immediate shock. Your mind refuses to accept what has happened in an attempt to reject the painful reality of grief.
2. Anger Anger and resentment are common stages of grief. The anger is a need to find someone to blame for your loss. You may feel that the world feels cruel and unsafe, making you react with fear, anger and irritability to the most trivial happenings.
3. Bargaining During this stage, you may wish that you could go back in time and bring your loved one back. You may continuously ask yourself ‘what if’ or ‘if only’ and promise significant life changes to reverse what has happened.
4. Depression Feelings of depression can last for a long time and usually appear when you accept the reality of your loss, and react to it. Depression may take the form of crying bouts, tiredness, and disturbance of normal sleep rhythms, loss of interest in things around us, or loss of concentration.
5. Acceptance This is the stage when you start to come to terms with, accept and adapt to your loss. You may still feel pangs of grief prompted by a photograph or a particular memory, but can begin to enjoy good memories too.
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