Grief and Loss
Unexpected and Traumatic Loss
Some losses we cannot prepare for, and we are faced with them suddenly and unexpectedly. Accidents, homicide, suicide, overdose, medical/health complications, natural disasters, war, violence, and terror attacks are some of the ways in which sudden traumatic loss may be experienced. These losses often include complicated feelings that deserve to be processed and better understood, so that we can begin to consider what healing may look as our lives continue without our loved ones. While not every sudden loss results in traumatic grief and complication, those that do can cause difficulties in how we live our lives and connect with others moving forward.
Ambiguous and Disenfranchised Grief
Ambiguous loss includes loss that does not have a clear and defined closure attached to it, either physically or psychologically. We often see ambiguous grief attached to the loss of someone that is unresolved and whose physical or psychological status is uncertain. This can look like loss from unexplained disappearances, kidnapping, incarceration, adoption/foster care, brain injury, Alzeimher’s disease/dementia, addiction, and estrangement. These types of losses deserve processing so that we can continue to move our lives forward and avoid becoming stuck.
Disenfranchised grief includes any grief that goes unacknowledged or invalidated by society, and is often referred to as hidden grief. This can include infertility, death of an online friend or celebrity, death of a therapist or doctor, loss of possessions, loss of one’s home country to war, loss of pets, loss of language/culture/tradition, and abortion/miscarriage/silent birth. Due to these losses often being overlooked yet having a major impact on an individual’s life, they deserve acknowledgment and processing like any other type of loss.
Loss Across the Lifespan
Being a human being means that loss is inevitable. We will all grieve and lose things across our lifespan, which includes the loss of people, places, things, dreams, hopes, ideas, plans, and goals. Recognizing that loss is a normal part of life, and understanding how we move through loss uniquely based on our own experiences, can help make loss more tolerable as we grow and encounter it. Considering grief and the place it has in our life is meaningful and transformative.