Treatment Plans for Grief

Death, divorce, loss of health, loss of home and other major losses cause different reactions in people and can cause them to experience various levels of grief, some of which are more acute than others and may require specific treatment. A grieving person can receive at-home or professional help in coping with grief.

Types

• Types of grief treatment include talking about the loss among family and friends, joining a support group, seeing a grief counselor and complicated grief therapy. Complicated grief therapy is a type of psychotherapy that includes counseling and medication as prescribed by a therapist.

Benefits

• Treating grief is beneficial because it helps a person move through the seven stages of grief: shock and denial; pain and guilt; anger and bargaining; depression, reflection loneliness; the upward turn; reconstruction and working through; and acceptance and hope. Getting stuck in any one of the first six stages of grief puts one at risk at never reaching the seventh stage, which is required for handling grief in a healthy way and ultimately overcoming the grief.

Misconceptions

• Crying is a natural and positive part of the grieving process.

  You don't need to hold back tears in order to "protect" family or friends; showing your feelings actually helps them cope with theirs. Trying to suppress or tune out your grief will only worsen it in the long run. Recovering from grief requires facing it and dealing with it actively. Time required for grieving differs per person; there's no wrong or right time frame.

Considerations

• Children often show grief differently than adults.

  Consider seeing a professional in order to determine whether you require professional help. If so, have the professional recommend the type of grief therapy that would best suit your needs. Children often need professional grief help, especially in the case of losing a parent.