Objectives:

• Break Stigmas (myths)through education.
• Embrace Wellness (action/behaviors)through interventions

Breaking stigmas

Common Myths about Grief:

• Time heals all.
• You must be strong.
• Crying will only make it worse.
• They are in a better place.
• Stages of grief are linear.*
• source: Debunking Myths About Grief | Psych Central

Let’s talk about it!

Grief is the anguish experienced after significant loss, usually the death of a beloved person.

Grief often includes physiological distress, separation anxiety, confusion, yearning, obsessive dwelling on the past, and apprehension about the future. Intense grief can become life-threatening through disruption of the immune system, self-neglect, and suicidal thoughts.

Grief may also take the form of regret for something lost, remorse for something done, or sorrow for a mishap to oneself.

https://www.apa.org/topics/grief

Grief vs. Depression:

Grief:

• Prolonged Grief Disorder diagnosis recently added in DSM-V-TR (2022)
• No “time limit”
• Related to a loss

Depression:

• Time limited
• A part of the stages of grief
• May not be related to/connected to anything. Overall mood is depressed.

Movies about Grief/Death & Dying/ Loss

 

A few more…

 

The 5 Stages of Grief by Elizabeth Kubler Ross:

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Types of Losses:

• Physical
• Non-physical
• Primary Loss
• Secondary Loss/Tertiary Loss
• Life transitions
• Traumatic/Unexpected Loss

Embracing Wellness

Addressing Grief:

• Therapy/counseling (individual/group)
• Writing
• Music
• Meditation
• Faith based activities/engagement
• Arts & Crafts/Create
• Memorials
• Mourning

My Grief Journey: