Coping with Loss: Finding Strength in Grief and Change

Clinically Reviewed by Ami G. Risinger, LPC-MHSP

Each of us will face a significant loss at some point in our lives. Everyone handles grief differently, and overcoming it often requires developing skills and mechanisms for coping with loss. Both griving and developing these skills is emotionally challenging. Additionally, grief can pose a risk of developing or exacerbating mental health disorders.

How are you coping with your loss will impact your well-being. While some manage to go through all the stages of grieving and find their peace, some get stuck or develop unhealthy coping mechanisms (like substance abuse), requiring professional intervention. 

Support from your loved ones is the most important element to overcoming this life challenge, but it is often insufficient to get your life back on track. Turning to professionals who provide Tennessee mental health services can make the grieving process easier. The experienced staff of Time Wellness can offer you individualized support tailored to your needs and circumstances.

Understanding the Grief Process

Grief is the anguish experienced after a significant loss. While we may grieve the loss of our health, big opportunities, or the passing of youth, it typically happens due to the death of a beloved person. Someone who is grieving will experience physiological distress, separation anxiety, confusion, yearning, obsessive dwelling on the past, and worry about the future. In some cases, when grief is intense, it might pose a risk for developing disorders, such as anxiety or depression. When the intensity of emotions is not reduced over time, a complicated grief disorder might develop.

Grieving is an individual experience, and it might take time to overcome a loss. Typically, people go through five stages of grief within up to six months after the loss. The five emotional stages of grief are:

• Denial.
• Anger.
• Bargaining.
• Depression.
• Acceptance.

Each stage has its function and brings you closer to finding peace with what has happened to you. However, some people can get “stuck” in one of the stages. The fourth stage is especially risky for further development of mental health issues. It’s the stage of overwhelming sadness and despair. Suicidal thoughts and questions about the point of anything can appear.

The Importance of Professional Support

When someone suffers a great loss, questioning everything is natural. You may ask yourself what’s the meaning of life, what happens after you die, or even “Why me?” (typical for the anger stage of grieving). It might seem as though a great injustice was done to you. Hopelessness and desperation might lead you to feel overwhelmed by grief.

While it’s normal to feel sad or angry and even experience changes in your sleep or appetite, if questions like why me coping with grief loss and change are a constant in your head and you can’t escape negative feelings, it’s advisable to consult with a professional Tennessee behavioral health Center.

Intense and prolonged grief is also one of the risk factors for depression. Experts also warn that for those who have previously struggled with acknowledged or unacknowledged depression, the death of a significant other can be the catalyst that brings depression to the foreground.

Another good argument for seeking professional help for coping with loss lies in the fact that signs of disorders developing often go unnoticed by laymen, as they are confused with normal signs of grief. There are also cultural differences regarding what is acceptable or desirable in the grieving period, and little attention is given when everything goes as society expects it to go. An experienced psychotherapist will know what signs to pay attention to and what are some differences that separate normal grieving from symptoms of a disorder.

Coping Mechanisms for Grief

Now that you know what grief is and what risks it invites into your life, you might wonder what is coping with loss. In short, coping with loss is a set of techniques and approaches to dealing with negative consequences brought by experiencing a loss. There is no perfect solution for all the negative thoughts and feelings you would experience, but there are things that can help. Here are to name a few:

• Journaling is a technique for sharing thoughts and feelings by writing them down. Some see it as a creative outlet, while others see it as a form of dialog with an imaginary listener. 
• Mindfulness is a nonjudgmental approach to experiencing thoughts and feelings. Practicing mindful yoga or meditation helps people stay grounded and connected by allowing thoughts and feelings to pass through them without giving them additional meaning. 
• Social support from friends and family can mean many things, from having a safe space to share your emotions to having someone you can count on to help you instrumentally when you are struggling. A strong community can help you feel like things make sense even after a great loss.
• Professional support can provide additional support when sadness and pain become overwhelming and start impacting your mental health. Some people will hugely benefit from the help of depression treatment centers in Tennessee.

Seek Support for Coping with Loss

Coping with loss is a life challenge everyone will have to face. You need not do it alone. Seeking support from your loved ones, friends, family, and community should be given, but when needed, turn to professionals as well. Grief is a complex state that can be overwhelming and lead to bigger mental health issues. 

Time Wellness Tennessee can offer you guidance and support in these difficult moments. Call us to learn about our programs and approaches to helping grieving people.