Daria Sievers,
MSW, LCSW, CCTP, NATC
LOSS & GRIEF
The experience of loss, and the grief that follows are part of the human experience.
If we are fortunate in our lives we have loving relationships.
When separation and loss occur, as inevitably they do, we feel it. Grief affects us neurologically, physically, spiritually, emotionally and psychologically.
SHARING - REMEMBERING - REFLECTING - ACCEPTING -
EXPRESSING - JOURNALING - SEEKING - CARING
Some losses are more difficult to navigate than others. And each of us experiences loss in our own way. There is no right or wrong way to grieve and no timeline. Our experience is dependent upon many variables, our relationship to whom or what has been lost, the circumstances of the loss, our age and stage of life at the time of the loss and more. Grief can be profoundly destabilizing and leave us feeling exhausted and rudderless. To understand how the loss of a loved one can affect one's body, heart and brain makes the grieving process less frightening.
When going through narcissistic abuse, “loss and grief” hit hard — not just for the relationship, but for the love and future you imagined. It can shatter self-esteem and trigger waves of anger, guilt, and sadness, even after leaving. Talking to therapist trained in recovery from abusive relationships and relational trauma can help ease isolation and guilt, guiding survivors from victimhood to empowerment.
We may grow from our loss and realize a full life with tender acceptance. While our lives will never be the same, or what we hoped they might have been, we still may live gracious, and joyful lives, content and full, even after the experience of the deepest and most painful loss.
"To feel sadness, to endure and experience death’s anguishing aftermath,
and to put the powerful feelings of sorrow into word are what help to make grief change."
[1] Holinger, Ph.D. Dorothy, P., The Anatomy of Grief How the Brain, Heart, and Body Can Heal after Loss. 2020 Yale University Press.