Title: The Ways We Grieve | Psychology Today
Headings: The Ways We Grieve
Ralph Ryback M.D.
The Ways We Grieve
From loss, to despair, to recovery, grief is an inevitable part of life.
Bereavement after death
Normal grief reactions
Grief is more than just sadness
Anticipatory vs. traumatic grief
Dealing with loss
Grief pangs: Yearning, disorganization, and despair
THE BASICS
Unresolved, complicated grief
Persistent complex bereavement disorder
Recovering from bereavement

Content: Attachments or bonds that we form with significant people in our lives continue to exist even in the absence of that person. In our protest of separation from our bond with our loved one, we may have anxiety and difficulty comprehending the loss, an experience known as numbing, which can lead to feelings of shock, denial or disbelief, especially when the death occurs unexpectedly. article continues after advertisement
Grief pangs: Yearning, disorganization, and despair
We may have “debilitating recurrent pangs of painful emotions, with intense yearning, longing and searching for the deceased, and preoccupation with thoughts of the loved one,” said Mary-Frances O’Connor and her colleagues. Grief pangs, short temporary periods of very intense distress and yearning for the deceased, can spin us into an existential, emotional, relative emptiness. Despite being highly distressful, grief pangs serve the purpose of recovering and reuniting with the person who has left us. When we realize that we will not be able to recover the one we love, we go through a period of disorganization, and despair, during which we attempt to find ways to cope with our irreparable loss. THE BASICS
Understanding Grief
Find a therapist to heal from grief
Along with our significant loss, we may also feel as if we have lost a part of ourselves, and, in some ways, we did. Both tangible and intangible psychological losses, such as losing our sense of safety after something traumatic happens to us or changes to our identity, can be highly distressful. Eventually, we must learn how to reorganize our sense of self and rediscover our unique place in the world without our loved one.