How Grief impacts Body / Mind response in Bereaver
Posted by Dash
As a health practitioner doctor and MPH health educator, I am most interested in how grief impacts the bereaved person's health. Some of my patients have never been more sick for weeks, months and years after the death of their loved one. Also, especially if they were the major decision maker / caretaker, it is a real phenomenon that after the death of one person in a couple, the previously health surviving partner suddenly becomes mortally ill or actually dies within 5 years. Witness what happened with Christopher Reeves and his wife Dana, as well as many other stories that support this fact. I would like to be involved with spearheading clinical work regarding bereavement and mind/body issues...another phenomenon is that the major person who is left behind often feels like they themselves want to die and they experience profound depression with inconsolable response to therapies. When a person is in this "unhelpable" disposition, it is profoundly challenging to breakthrough this wall of emotional quicksand and labyrinth of intense downward spiralling black hole emotions. As a practitioner, I feel ineffective in knowing appropriate referrals or how to proceed where I am assisting the person in moving forward from this stuck place. I welcome all comments and thoughts.
Comments
I work with bereaved caregivers after their loved one have died on hospice. There is a lot of research that supports what you're saying. I work in end of life research and have noticed that caregivers do not take care of themselves emotionally, physically, spiritually and etc. I use the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7 with them once a month and this helps tremendously. It lets them know where they are at and what they need to work on. Also, have you read this before :http://deathcafe.com/blog/15/ It's a great read!
Posted by Megan Mooney
Moving Beyond Bereavement
As a Three Principles Facilitator I work with people who have lost partners or loved ones,
I see major shifts occur through guiding my clients to insightfully understand the source of the pain, grief and loss they are experiencing. The transformation comes from the realisation that we all live from the "inside out" - creating our experience of reality moment to moment via thought and simultaneously experiencing the feeling of pain (or happiness) via consciousness. I know all my clients have innate health within them, so I gently keep pointing them in the direction of their own wisdom, and that's where the healing takes place.
Gillian Fox
www.movingbeyondbereavement.com
Posted by Gillian Fox