Grieving and Healing as a Family

Losing a beloved member of the immediate family can be devastating for each individual, as well as for the entire home. Each person goes through the grieving process at their own pace. Grief can bring out the best and worst even in close-knit families. The different way each member grieves can be a source of conflict and discord, and may present new and different challenges within the family.

Family grief depends on internal and external factors such as various beliefs, life experiences, and the type of loss. Grief may be expressed through rituals, but it is generally shown in the same way as others do, even if it is said that everyone mourns differently. Some families find solace in sharing their grief with family members and friends, while others seek comfort from a grief support group in the community. Regardless of how a family works toward the grieving and healing process, it is important to remain sensitive to how other family members feel.

Each Family Member Has Their Own Grief

Death or loss in the family, and the grief that follows, poses unique challenges for each individual member’s role. Couples may face significant struggles in their relationship due to their different grief styles. While women tend to be more expressive about their emotions and pay attention to each family member’s grief, men are more likely to deny the emotions of grief by substituting it with work, sports or hobbies. When one spouse tries to talk, cry or share emotions, disappointment can be felt by finding the other spouse is unavailable. Grief is the time when they cannot share what they feel even if they have the same grief. Each one carries it alone as their own burden, in their own way.

Experiencing grief poses unique challenges in the role of each individual family member. Parents may find it more challenging to keep a sense of order or responsibility in the family home. They should also focus on grief and children, which can sometimes be emotionally unhealthy if the young ones’ feelings are overlooked or played down. Unprocessed grief can result in children feeling lost, confused, and alone, especially without the guidance of a grief-stricken parent. The way each family member processes grief can create tension in family relationships.

It is never easy to undergo a serious loss, and it can take time to grasp its reality. The family may become overwhelmed or bogged down in the process of grieving. In time, however, as days, weeks and months pass by, grief can gradually lead to acceptance, healing and getting on with life. If a teen member, for example, is continuously experiencing depression, having trouble re-engaging in life actively, or showing the symptoms of grief a few months after the loss, consider seeking counseling to ease teen grief.

Grief Symptoms as a Family Affair

The passing of a member can affect the entire family. It is a family crisis that all members encounter as one of the most stressful life events. It can feel like an important link in the family chain is suddenly gone and everyone is in a struggle to find the link, so the broken chain can be restored again. Everyone is mourning a personal loss. Roles and responsibilities are altered, and relationships changed.

Although it is inevitable, the occurrence of death can be significantly upsetting and disruptive not only to the family system, but also to individual functioning. Grief is often expressed with physical symptoms that include crying, low energy, headaches, sweating, poor appetite, binge eating, insomnia or hypersomnia, and overworking. Behavior may change to the point of being reckless or self-destructive activities, such as alcohol or substance abuse.

The social symptoms of grief may include withdrawal, clinginess, detachment, and resentment towards others who seem to feel alright. A family member who is experiencing grief is most likely to display the emotional manifestations, which may be in the form of anger, frustration, anxiety, depression, guilt, sadness, irritability, memory impairment, passive resignation, lack of control, and passive resignation.

A Family that Grieves Individually Heals Together

Within a family, each member may have a different way of experiencing grief depending on the relationship each one has with the person who has passed. Often, a storm of strong feelings may constantly hover around the family.

You and the other family members may have clung together at the funeral, trying to reach out for each other during a difficult time. Indeed, the loss of a beloved family member can be life’s most painful blow, yet one’s reaction to death remains to be one of the least understood and taboo topics for discussion. When grieving for your loss, you may feel abandoned, unsupported, isolated, and totally alone to process the pain, loneliness, denial, resentment, guilt, and personal discomfort even when your family is just within reach.

While you all grieve in your own unique way and expressing it in different ways, each of you has one thing in common: Each of you holds the person you have lost dear to your heart and mind. Each of you has preserved a different facet of your departed loved one deeply within you. Whatever mix of emotions and other visible signs there may be, know that each one is grieving, and the pain each one feels is as excruciating as yours. Take heart, however, for as you reach out to each other in grief, your bond together as a family becomes a stronger force than death. In time, as you feel, experience, and accept the pain together, healing will come to your family.

Grieving and Healing Together as a Family

Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult and painful experience a family can undergo together. Loss can be so devastating that it can trap the entire family or a member in grief. It is not, however, impossible to move from grief to healing. If your family is experiencing difficulty processing your bereavement, it can be beneficial to arrange for parents/families counseling services from a caring counselor independently contracted with Carolina Counseling Services – Sanford, NC.

Sadly, there is no way to avoid grief. Precisely because your loss is so devastating to your family or a member, your family has specific needs that must be met to process your grief and find healing during a difficult time. Whether there’s a change in the family relationship or you’re finding it difficult to pick up after your loss, a counselor contracted with Carolina Counseling Services – Sanford, NC offers a safe and neutral environment where your family can connect to share feelings and struggles to promote healing for the entire family.

With help from the right fit grief counselor independently contracted with CCS – Sanford, NC, your family can gain new strength, and support for each other, creating more comfort in the home. At the same time, you can start a new chapter in life with restored relationships filled with hope and healing for the family, as you celebrate and honor the memory of a lost loved one with a new meaning. Call now to request an appointment.

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