Grief is a natural response to the loss of something valued. Myths are falsehoods parading as gospel truths. Combined they lead to much excessive emotional and physical pain when mourning.
If you mourn according to myth it means you have adopted false beliefs about grief and how to cope with the loss of a loved one. The solution is clear: obtain information to form beliefs that are true for you and discard old beliefs that were handed down to you when you were young.
There are many myths about grief. Here are five of the most common and what you can do to reverse your thinking and reduce the unnecessary suffering they often inflict.
1. There is an orderly stage like progression in the grief process. In truth, this has yet to be decided by researchers. Right now the best information says grief is highly individual. It could take months or years depending on the nature of the death and the degree of emotional investment in the person who died. And grief has many ups and downs and revisits.
Do not set limits or expectations. Allow your grief to move through its natural responses according to you. There is no right way to grieve.
2. You have to “let go” of the person who died. Letting go of the deceased is often interpreted as having to forget about the deceased and get on with life. In fact, the relationship with the deceased never ends; it changes. Establishing a new relationship with the deceased through memory, celebration, new traditions, and the intent to learn to love in separation is part of adapting to loss.
3. The longer you mourn the more you show your love for the deceased. Some individuals accept the loss of their loved one and are able to begin reinvesting in their new life without the physical presence of their loved one. Others hesitate to fully embrace their new life because they believe it will indicate a lack of true love for the deceased. Consequently, they refuse invitations to social gatherings or refrain from other pleasurable pursuits. Remember that love never dies, and we honor our deceased loved ones by continuing to grow into the next chapter of our lives.
4. Time heals all wounds. Time does not heal all wounds unless the mourner addresses the tasks of grief, starts new routines, faces the pain, and establishes a new relationship with the deceased loved one. Or as a dear friend of mine put it, “Time doesn’t heal all wounds, unless you work between the minutes.” Taking action to heal is a choice and the best way to prevent generating emotional poison through isolation and waiting to get better.
5. Mourning should end after the first anniversary of the death. Those who hold on to this myth often lengthen their grief work and/or inhibit the natural grief responses that occur after one year. For many, the major part of grief recedes after five or six months for others it takes considerably longer. There is no specific time limit applicable to all.
In summary, myths are beliefs we choose and in terms of the grief process usually cause additional pain and suffering. Make every effort to seek out those who are knowledgeable about coping with loss and the changes it imposes. Ask questions.
Be open to the new as well as an analysis of your beliefs about grief and loss and how you adopted them. Then find a grief companion who is a good listener, and work toward intellectual and emotional acceptance of the death of your loved one.
Dr. Lou LaGrand is a grief counselor and the author of eight books, the most recent, Love Lives On: Learning from the Extraordinary Encounters of the Bereaved. He is known world-wide for his research on the Extraordinary Experiences of the bereaved (after-death communication phenomena) and is one of the founders of Hospice of the St. Lawrence Valley, Inc. His website is http://www.extraordinarygriefexperiences.com.
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thank you so much for your website. i visit it much often since i have dicovered it. i learn so much from other peoples grief experience
My boyfriend was killed 5 days ago and I feel like I died with him. I am not sure how to deal with it and I feel like noone really understands what I’m going through. I just want to thank the person that created this website and say that I am sure that I will spend alot of time here.
My son Daniel died on August 15, 2007. Daniel was packed, engaged to Andrea, and elated to be leaving the next day for Arizona. Andrea was to attend U of Arizona graduate school for French Horn for 2yrs. and Daniel had a job as a CNA (certified nurses assistant) He was enrolled for his first class towards his RN in geriatric nursing.After a successful fight with neruofibromatosis (tumors at nerve endings)he had a clear MRI and was going to pick up his two younger siblings 15 and 16 to spend the last day home taking them out for the day with Andrea. He was returning at 8am to pick them up when witnesses to the accident saw him lean to the right in his car, move into oncoming traffic, travel for a distance in that lane and then the car bolted at 60mph into a tree. There were slight symptoms of dizziness and leg tremors and stiffening in the 2 weeks prior to this. the dr.on emergence said he thought Daniel had a seizure of some sort. I will have the results from the NF clinic at Mass General the end of Sept. Daniel was 27 and moved through his illness stoically with a vision for himself that his was slowly manefesting. His joy and progress that morning was halted. I have returned to teaching, pouring my energy out to the ajudicated young men I teach, I am wounded and feel that the composure I had through the formalities of the post-death nightmare has begun to evaporate, leaving me angry with my husband and caught in a place I cannot escape, many others depend on my strength. I found your website by chance. Naomi
I LOST MY SON CHASE IN 2001 AND I AM LIVING PROOF THAT GREIF NEVER GOES AWAY,GRIEF WILL MAKE YOU LIKE I WANNA SAY HEARTLESS AND COLD.BUT ALL THAT CAN BE DONE HAS BEEN DONE SO YOU TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME.