How to help someone dealing with grief

It can be challenging relating to someone going through grieving moments because you might not understand what they are going through. Therefore it is important to learn how to help them so that they would come out of their grief faster.

You can use these tips to help someone deal with grief symptoms

Learn about grief

One of the primary reasons why you are stuck on what to do is because you don’t know what grief means. You need to have a broad understanding of how it works so that you can help someone facing it.

For instance, you can begin by learning the definition of grief, the stages of grief, symptoms, etc. When you have this knowledge, helping them becomes easier.

Show kindness

If you have someone dealing with grief, this is the best time to be kind to them. Since you know how grief works, you will be able to practice showing love so that they can feel better.

One of the ways to do this is by doing things they would love. This would take their hearts off what they are facing temporarily. When you do this over time, they will recover gradually.

Discourage them from addiction

People dealing with grief are likely to rely on substances or addictive behaviors so that they can cope. However, they end up complicating the whole situation because addiction has negative long-term effects.

Therefore, support them by discouraging them from their addictive habits. You need to do this lovingly so that they won’t think that you’re attacking them or being hostile.

Encourage them to talk to a professional

Someone dealing with grief is likely to have a good understanding of what they are facing when they speak with a professional. It is advisable to speak with a mental health counselor or a therapist.

They are great at helping individuals understand the root cause of what they are facing so that they can be more motivated to seek help.

Common symptoms of Grief

No human reacts happily when they lose something except if it was of no value to them. Our natural reaction to loss is called Grief. This is a complex type of emotion that shows that we are not happy with the absence of something that was once valuable in our lives.

It is important to mention that Grief can be both direct and indirect. This means that someone else’s loss can cause you grief. Some people recover from grief faster than others.

Those who find it hard to heal from grief can develop mental illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety if care is not taken.

Here are some of the common symptoms of grief

Lack of energy and motivation

Anyone grieving will find it challenging to apply energy to other aspects of their lives. They will become lackadaisical towards other things that make up their lives.

Such people will hardly be motivated because nothing makes them happy again. They will also show a lack of interest in things in their lives that once brought them joy.

Reduced focus at work

Grief can make an individual less focused at work. They will find it hard to pay attention to work-related tasks. In the long run, this will affect their productivity because they will keep making mistakes and their performance will be below par.

Poor interpersonal relationships

Many grieving persons derive no pleasure in sustaining their present interpersonal relationships. Most of them are focused on what caused their grief. Hence, their actions are likely to deteriorate their interpersonal relationships because it will affect the people around them.

Reduced self-esteem and confidence level

Grief can cause decreased confidence and self-esteem. The individual will discover that they don’t exude the confidence they once had. This is likely to affect them in different ways.

If you notice that anyone around you has prolonged grief, you need to assist them in seeking help so that it does not become chronic in the long run.

POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF LOSING A CHILD

One of the most painful events in life is to lose a child. It is a really painful process and parents and loved ones are always reminded of it all through their lives.

The process of grieving after losing a child is a slow and steady one, it is best not rushed. There is a tendency for the mental health of a parent to get worse if they do not handle the event of their child properly.

In all aspects of humanity, there is a tendency for grief to be set in. This informs us that is a natural life process that we would all encounter at some points in our lives.

It is a natural process to dwell on the loss of a child for a while. However, when it becomes too long, running into years, it implies that the grieving process is not normal.

One of the possible effects of losing a child is mental health loss. The parents are bound to experience depression and this can be in varying phases.

If they do not receive prompt care then their mental health problem could get worse. This depression has the capacity to affect them in various phases of their lives.

They would no longer act their normal selves and it would be easily noticeable to people around them. In addition to this, there is likely to be a decline in their productivity. For parents, they would not perform optimally at work if care is not taken.

Another possible effect of losing a child is overprotectiveness. Due to the fact that they have lost a child, they would not want a repeat incidence. So, there is a likely chance that they would be overprotective and this can cause friction between parents and their children.

Parents are allowed to grieve if the experience child loss and this is natural. They are also advised to seek help during this period, so that they would heal naturally.

DEALING WITH GRIEF

One of the most natural response to loss is grief. This is the emotion you feel when you would not be seeing someone you love again.

A good number of times, this feeling of loss is great, and it may be hard to handle them. It is possible for you to go through various emotions like guilt, anger, disbelief and a host of others.

Someone who experiences grief might not be able to sleep properly or even eat, think and process thoughts straight. These experiences are normally obtainable and when they are more significant, the grief experienced becomes more intense.

One of the biggest challenges in life is losing something you love. One of the most severe type of grief is the death of a loved one, and it is very difficult to handle.

Below are other circumstances that induces grief:

  • Divorce
  • Poor state of health
  • Job loss
  • Miscarriage
  • Friendship loss

There are also some minor losses that can make you grieve without you being aware. Some people might grief when they leave home, finish school, and look for jobs and the likes.

Irrespective of your loss, it is important to note that they are personal to you, so you should not be ashamed of them.

It would interest you to know that there are some ways to grieve. These ways have been used over the years and they have been found to be effective.

One of such ways is pain acknowledgment. You need to come to terms with the fact that the loss is a reality, and you need to move on with life. You also need to be aware that, the process of grieving can induce a good number of emotions, unpleasant and unexpected.

You should also know that the grieving process is peculiar. This implies that, no two persons can grieve the same way. It is also essential to seek support from appropriate quarters.

Seeing a counselor or mental health therapist is one of the best steps you can take to achieve this.