Grief Counselling
As we encounter the changing terrain of life, loss and grief are inevitable parts of life that we will all experience. Whether it be the death of a beloved, estrangement from family, illness, disability, unemployment, or any other separation from person, place, situation or activity. To grieve and mourn in a way that humans can express and assimilate their losses.
Feeling Grief
Grief is a subjective experience often filled with prolonged confusion and suffering. Following are the main grief reactions or responses that can be experienced:
- Emotionally the bereaved experiences feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety, loneliness, helplessness, shock, yearning, relief and numbness.
- Physically the body carries the weight of the grief through physical symptoms such as a hollowness in the stomach, tightness in the chest or throat, over sensitivity to noise, breathlessness and fatigue.
- Cognitively the bereaved may experience disbelief, confusion, preoccupation and hallucinations.
- Behaviourally the bereaved may experience a disturbance in sleep or appetite, become forgetful, hyperactive, socially withdrawn, have dreams of the deceased, searching or calling out for the deceased and crying.
How Gestalt therapy can help with Grief
Gestalt therapy views loss and grief within a holistic perspective for grief affects all levels of experience, such as the body, emotions, cognition, socially, spiritually and religious beliefs. Gestalt defines…
Empty Nest Syndrome – What is it?
Recently my first born left home and this change stirred a wondering inside me. What will it be like to have no kids at home? A mixture of excitement and…
How Grief and Loss Counselling can help
Unfortunately, every one of us will experience loss and grief at some point in our lives. The reaction to the death of a loved one is entirely individual and often…
Loss and Grief
Loss and Grief is an inevitable part of life that we will all experience at some time or another. Whether it be the death of a loved one, illness, disability,…
