“Four Bereavement Counselors Discuss Different Types of Grief”

The first question on our minds we wanted answers to, was “What is the difference between normal grief and complicated grief?”

Jill Cohen explains:

“Grief is an absolutely normal and innate response to a painful event such as the death of a loved one or special person. That’s a given. However, when there is a passage of time and the griever is still finding it difficult to move forward and resume his or her normal life, this is the sign of something more problematic. This would be considered a complicated grief.

“But we can’t be too hasty to call a grief complicated. Even normal grief is not one single emotion or feeling. It is a way of being — and it shows up physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally in many shapes and forms. Grief is unique to everyone. How we grieve, for how long we intensely and actively grieve and what it looks like and what it affects, differs from one person to another.”

She also went on to explain that most grief includes some of the following:

• Tears

• Crying

• Too little or too much sleep

• Lethargy

• Eating too much or too little

• Being less socially engaged with others

• Lack of concentration

• Questioning one’s own faith and belief system

• Lots of feelings – anger, guilt, loneliness, depression, sadness, loneliness, fear with occasionally experiencing and acknowledging moments of happiness

Cohen also says that “If these usual responses to grief don’t fade or lessen over time and begin to interrupt their ability to lead their own lives and function, they may be experiencing complicated grief.”