Understanding and Managing Grief, September8 - September 21, 2024

September is National Suicide Prevention Month

Best selections from Grief Healing's most recent X feed:   

In my grief, I’ve learned to avoid resenting others’ inability to understand my loss and focus on sharing the overwhelming goodness of my brother’s character with those not lucky enough to have known him. I love to talk about him and am thankful for friends who give me the opportunity to do so. As I readjusted to campus life in the weeks following Matthew’s death, I realized I couldn’t compartmentalize my grief. There’s never any good time to process loss, and the task is never completed. Being thrust back into mundanity, however difficult, taught me I had to find ways to incorporate the memory of Matthew into each day — with tears or with smiles, with a story about him or a call to my family. I just have to process it everyday. Navigating Grief on the College Campus « The Loyola Phoenix

So many people want to be supportive of those who are in mourning, but so few people understand to what extent grief interferes with a bereaved person’s ability to navigate interpersonal relationships. Whether you are enduring a period of mourning and looking for ways to cope or you are looking to provide meaningful support to a person who has experienced a loss, here is some valuable information you can use to strengthen your relationships in the presence of grief. How Grief Changes Relationships « AfterTalk

Advocacy can lead to feelings of empowerment and connection to others. Finding purpose and helping others naturally helps oneself. Advocacy can be a double-edged sword: People have different reactions to “going public” with a family story. Does Turning Pain into Purpose Aid in Healing From Grief? « Psychology Today

I never heard of anticipatory grief until I was thrown into the depths of it. The anticipatory grief got deeper as my mother began to struggle with her health and mobility. I define anticipatory grief not as waves of grief but as an undertow. It is the current beneath the surface of every decision, health crisis, and holiday. That current is strong and flows away from the life you have always known with a loved one. The valley of the shadow of death is long, lonely, and full of what-ifs and when. Here’s what I learned about The valley of anticipatory grief « The Hamilton County Reporter

"We know my dad is dying of cancer but apparently he still isn't aware of the truth. I don't find this to be right. I believe he should be told so if he has things he would like to say or do he can say or do them. I don't find that my stepmother is being fair with him." Should We Tell Our Dad That He's Dying? « Grief Healing 

Some researchers damage our understanding [of grief] by defining departures from the universal road map as a medical or mental health problem. People who don’t grieve the way someone else thinks they should are diagnosed with disorders like “complicated grief,” “prolonged grief,” “traumatic grief,” “delayed grief,” “exaggerated grief,” or “chronic grief.” Grief becomes a disease in need of a cure. Treating grief as a disease threatens our freedom to grieve. And it gets worse.  Am I Grieving Right « Grief Watch

 

"My husband committed suicide six weeks ago. He left behind our nine-year-old son and myself . . . Our son does not know that his father killed himself. He just knows that his dad is dead from pain." Explaining Dad's Suicide to A Child « Grief Healing

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