Bereavement
Managing your mental health when you are grieving
What is bereavement?
If someone close to us passes away, a beloved pet dies or if we lose touch with someone important to us or an important relationship ends, we can experience a whole host of thoughts and feelings while we grieve the loss and adjust to life without them.
Grief is a natural response to the loss of someone close to you and it can be very challenging to deal with. When we are bereaved we may feel all sorts of emotions such as sadness, anger, anxiety, loneliness, guilt and frustration and we might find it difficult to continue living the life we want to.
You might want some help to process your feelings after losing someone you love and there are organisations such as Cruse Bereavement Care which offer a helpline and information that may help if you are experiencing bereavement.
What symptoms can you experience with bereavement?
When someone close to you dies it can be emotionally devastating. Some of the physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms you might experience as you come to terms with your loss include:
- Panic attacks
- Anger
- Suicidal feelings
- Anxiety
- Loneliness
- Sleep problems
- Loss of appetite
- Depression
- Stress
- Withdrawing from social contact
When you are bereaved you might have feelings including:
- shock and numbness and feeling you are in a daze
- overwhelming sadness and finding you are crying a lot
- extreme tiredness or exhaustion
- anger towards the person who died, the illness that killed them, or to God for letting it happen
- guilt about not being able to stop the person you loved from dying or about something you said or didn’t say.
Organisations such as Cruse Bereavement Care can help you find someone to talk to about your experience of grief and help you understand how it is impacting you.
If your mental wellbeing is affecting you at work Able Futures could give you nine months advice and information to support you in managing your mental health at work. Apply now for support from Able Futures.