If you have suffered some type of emotional duress due to a family member dying, this can mean experiencing a very rough time in your life, you may become depressed or emotionally imbalanced. When you lose someone that is close you, and you are going through a bereavement process, this can be one of the most difficult times that you ever experience.
Some people are not able to get through this on their own and that is normal. They will need to work with a grief counsellor that can help them get through all of the different emotions. It is a part of life, but one that can be the hardest to go through, and grief counselling can help you get through all of this with their professional help.
To find a grief counsellor, you will have to search for them in local phone directories on the Internet, or you may be able to find someone through a referral courtesy of your local GP. Here are a few things to consider when you are choosing a grief counsellor, and a brief overview of what grief counselling can actually help with.
What Is Grief Counselling?
This is a form of psychotherapy, one that is administered by psychologists and psychiatrists that are able to help people cope with the grief of losing someone that they love. Knowing that you will never see this individual again, depending on the relationship with the deceased can sometimes be more than people can handle, and it triggers many negative emotions. Grief can also come in many different forms. People that go through a divorce that actually still love the other person can experience something that is very similar.
Other forms of grief can be experienced when you break up with someone, lose your job, have a miscarriage or perhaps lose a best friend due to certain circumstances. For all of these reasons and many more, a grief counsellor is the person that you can talk to. Look for a professional in your local area that is recommended to you or that appeals to you on the internet. These professionals will be able to help you get through this difficult time using psychological strategies that can work very well.
How Can They Begin To Help You With The Grieving Process?
The grieving process is going to be experienced by each person in different ways. Although the grief they are experiencing could be similar to another person’s, the type of emotions that they feel, and the duration of this process, can vary considerably. This is something that these counsellors will understand. They will talk with you, allow you to express your feelings, and then begin to help you get through this very emotional time.
The type of grief that you experience will also depend upon your cultural upbringing, religious beliefs, and also your disposition. For example, someone that believes in the afterlife through the religion that they follow may have an easier time than someone that is an atheist. When you actually believe that someone has not ceased to exist on a permanent basis, this can help with the grieving process.
People that believe that a person that is gone, on a permanent basis, will actually grieve completely differently than someone who considers the afterlife to be a possibility. Based upon these factors, and many others, grief counsellors will create a different protocol for helping people get their emotions under control.
What Exactly Is Grieving?
Although the term grief or grieving is a common one that people have heard, they may not know what it means until they have lost something very special to them. It is typically described as an overwhelming emotional response, one that is centered around sadness based upon personal loss. They can experience many different symptoms which will include uncontrollable crying, feelings of emptiness, sadness, anger and will sometimes include becoming depressed.
Those that are not able to process their grief may not be able to function properly in regard to people around them or the job that they have. Many people will experience this for several weeks, whereas others may have to go through a process that may last for many months or years, and some people have a delayed response. In some ways, grief is something that can be buried beneath a multitude of other experiences and emotions, preferably those that are happy and can replace the void or emptiness that a person is feeling inside.
What Is Grief Counselling And How Does It Work?
Although there are some people that are able to go through this type of counselling and deal with their grief ‘head on’, others may initially need some private time alone to reflect. They may need to come to terms with the loss of someone that they loved, or the loss of anything else in their life that is causing them to feel this way. For example, if they are grieving over the loss of a job, they can work towards replacing their job and find some form of solace in doing so.
They may actually forget how depressed they were about losing their position with one company after they have another position with a different business. However, when it comes to people, this is a little more difficult. If you are in a relationship where you have lost someone, some people will replace that person with someone else which is something to be careful of. In the case of death, this is not so easy.
This could have been a parent that has been with you for most of your life, and once they are gone, there is literally no way to replace them. What a grief counsellor will do is provide you with mental and emotional strategies that you can use in order to process the grief that you are feeling. You will never be able to rid yourself of this emptiness, but it can be replaced by helping to process your feelings, receive support and attend counselling if there are no other options that are helping. They will first consider your situation, ask how you are feeling, explore your relationship with the deceased person and then later find out what it is that you like to do.
They may try to redirect your attention to something that does bring you happiness that you can access on a regular basis (when you feel ready to do so). They may request that you spend more time with family, friends, or perhaps take up a hobby that can help increase your feeling of support. They may recommend that you participate more in religious gatherings, ones that you did once before, but haven’t done for quite some time.
This can sometimes bring some comfort to those that are worried that they will never see someone ever again. Knowing that you will, or at least believing in that possibility, is one way to help yourself deal with the grief you are experiencing.
The Difference Between Grief Counselling And Grief Therapy
Now that you know what is grief counselling, you should know that there is a distinction between counselling and therapy. Grief counselling is a process where these professionals can help you get through this difficult time, leading to some type of resolution. On the way there, you will need to use different strategies and treatments that can help you overcome the grief you are experiencing every day. Therefore, grief therapy is what grief counsellors will provide in the form of clinical tools that can help you start feeling better.
Grief therapy is better known as psychotherapy, a type of psychology that allows you to start looking at life in a different way. Psychotherapy has been used by psychologists and psychiatrists for decades, and each year there are new treatments and options that become available. If you are working strictly with a psychologist, they are going to address at a deeper level what your feelings are, give you different ideas that you can ponder, helping you to look at what you have lost as part of the process of life. They will try to redirect your attention to activities while you are under their care, allowing you to develop routines that can lead to a much more positive outlook.
If you work with a psychiatrist, they are going to do very similar things with the notable exception of prescribing certain pharmaceutical medications that can help you with the process. They will often recommend SSRIs, or similar antidepressants, that can help boost the amount of serotonin that is available to your brain which can help you moderate your feelings of loss. This is generally only if the grief process has turned into depression. You will know if any of these treatments are working if you start to feel happier, or if you are not thinking about the person you have lost as much.
Some people are able to benefit greatly from grief counsellors that can provide this type of help, sometimes seeing results in as little as a couple of weeks. Regardless of how long it takes, if you do not have a professional helping you, the process could go on for quite some time. Just as it’s better to talk to people about problems that you have, and receive that mental and emotional support, this is what a professional grief counsellor is there to do for you.
How Do You Choose The Right Grief Counsellor?
Selecting the right grief counsellor won’t take very long. It is always better to choose one that others have used. Specifically, you want to use grief counsellors that have a substantial amount of positive feedback which you can find out about from friends or family members that are using one. If they have been able to help other people, then they will likely be able to help you.
The best way to know if they are going to help you resolve this situation is to set your first appointment, and see if you like them and they are able to help. Keep in mind that this is a process that you must go through. You are likely not going to see positive results until your first three or four sessions. This is a mental and emotional process, one that must be worked out by you, and they are there to help you get through this by providing psychological strategies and emotional support.
Now that you know what is grief counselling, you should consider finding one of these professionals if you have recently experienced a significant loss in your life. People that are suffering for months, or even years, may have had a much easier time if they had worked with one of these professionals. Take the time to do the research, set your appointment, and start to work with a grief counsellor that can help you. By making this decision, you will move toward finding balance in your life, and also become happier, as a results of working with these counsellors that can help you deal with your grief.