Grief and the Role of Grief Therapy

Grief is an emotional response to the loss of someone or something that was an important part of your life and can include a variety of feelings such as sadness, anger, guilt, fear, or hopelessness.

Typically, it is associated with the death of a loved one but many other kinds of losses can cause grief, such as the loss of a pet, a divorce, a major life transition or misfortune, moving away from family and friends, the end of a career, the death of a dream, or being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Whatever the loss, each person’s grief is unique. Some people can work through their grief on their own, while others struggle to cope and may need the help of grief therapy and/or a grief support group to help them navigate their way through the grieving process.

Grief therapy is a form of counseling that is designed to help you adapt to the practical and emotional repercussions of life without the object of your loss. It involves addressing your sorrow, pain, and other distressing feelings, working through them in a healthy way, and in the case of the loss of a loved one, equipping you with healthy coping strategies that enable you to adjust to your new reality without him or her in it and be able to move on and find new meaning in life.

Primary Objectives of Grief Therapy

The primary objectives of grief therapy are to help you understand, accept, and manage your painful emotions so you can move on to live a full life. This process can be broken down into the following steps.

Accepting the loss One of the first and most important steps is to help you acknowledge and accept the reality of your loss and the impact it is having on you. Only then can you truly learn to cope with your grief and begin to heal.

Working through the pain The next step is to help you deal with the emotional pain and work through any feelings associated with it, such as sorrow, guilt, anger, fear, or blame. Trying to avoid your grief and suppress your emotions will only compound your distress. To heal, you need to persevere and allow yourself to experience the pain.

Adjusting to life Adapting to the loss of someone or something that was an important part of your life can be challenging. You may feel betrayed or stuck and not know how to go on. Grief therapy can help you reorient yourself, restructure your life, and help you find meaning and purpose after the loss.

Building resilience through coping strategies Grief therapy can help you become more resilient by equipping you with practical coping strategies to, for instance, deal with tough days such as birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays.

Maintaining a connection while moving forward In addition to accepting your loss and adjusting to its absence in your life, it is important, in the case of a deceased loved one for instance, to maintain a connection. Grief therapy can help you find ways to maintain a bond and honor your deceased loved one’s memory while moving forward and reinventing your life without him or her.

Grief Therapy Interventions

There is no one-size-fits-all grief therapy intervention, as every person’s grief journey is unique. The following is a list of the most popular ones you can choose from to help guide and support you through your grief process.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of talk therapy that focuses on the effect your thoughts and beliefs have on your feelings and behavior. It aims to help you manage your pain by recognizing and reframing thought patterns that are having a negative influence on your emotions and behavior, and equipping you with practical strategies for lessening their impact on your life.

Complicated grief therapy (CGT) CGT is a form of talk therapy designed to treat symptoms of complicated grief, which is a more severe, prolonged, and impairing grief characterized by troubling thoughts, difficulty regulating your emotions, and dysfunctional behavior that makes it harder for you to adapt to life without your loved one.

It focuses on helping you accept the reality of your loss and how it has changed things for you, and on working on goals for the future you can pursue on your own.

Traumatic grief therapy Traumatic grief therapy is designed for people dealing with intense shock and grief over losing a loved one suddenly and unexpectedly or in an unnatural way, and/or witnessing their death. Its focus is on reducing the symptoms caused by the trauma and equipping you with practical coping skills to enable you to move forward with your life.

Mindfulness therapy Mindfulness therapy incorporates practices such as breathing exercises, grounding activities, and journaling that can help increase your awareness of your thoughts and feelings and enable you to stay focused on the present moment.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) Acceptance and commitment therapy is based on the premise that resisting or trying to avoid painful feelings or situations creates more distress. It encourages you to incorporate acceptance and action by accepting your painful emotions and the reality of your loss, while at the same time choosing to move forward and focus on your values and goals for the future.

Support groups Support groups such as GriefShare provide a safe, nonjudgmental, supportive environment in which you can share your feelings and experiences with others who have also experienced a loss and move through the grief process together.

Benefits of Grief Therapy

It offers a safe space to process your emotions Grief therapy offers you a safe space in which you can openly express your thoughts and feelings and feel validated and supported as you process them.

It helps you understand the grieving process Understanding the stages of grief and loss can enable you to more fully tap into your thoughts and feelings and facilitate the healing process.

It reduces anxiety, guilt, and depression Grief therapy can help you manage anxiety, avoid depression, and overcome feelings of guilt about things you did or did not do while your loved one was alive by helping you constructively work through your emotions.

It reminds you that there is more than one way to grieve Grief therapy can help you recognize that every person’s experience is unique and there is no right or wrong way to grieve.

It permits you to grieve over different kinds of losses Though grief is traditionally associated with the death of a loved one, there are many other types of losses that can cause grief. Grief therapy gives you permission to grieve over such things without feeling weak or selfish.

It guides you back to self-care Grief can leave you feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. Grief therapy can provide you with practical self-care strategies to help you cope and recover.

It helps you redefine your identity Grief therapy can help you explore your new identity and equip you with the skills and confidence to try new activities, reach out to others, and build a support system.

It helps you rebuild routines Grief therapy can help you address anxiety you may have about activities and tasks you need to take on that your loved one used to take care of, or that you did together.

It equips you with coping skills Grief therapy equips you with coping skills to help you adapt to life without your loved one.

It helps you see things from a different perspective Grief therapy helps you change your perspective. When grieving the loss of a loved one, for instance, grief therapy encourages you to focus on memories of happy times you shared rather than on the pain of their absence.

Christian Grief Counseling in San Diego

Christian grief therapy in San Diego, California, integrates traditional therapeutic techniques with biblical principles and prayer to foster a deeper sense of hope and resilience in the face of loss, as well as comfort, guidance, and spiritual support.

If you would like to set up a risk-free appointment to meet with one of the faith-based counselors in San Diego, please give us a call at San Diego Christian Counseling.