When deep grief persists


For the bereaved

Bereavement caused by a disaster is also a major traumatic experience. The goal of such post-traumatic recovery involves neither forgetting the bereavement event nor ensuring you will not have such pain again. Sadness may return for many years and you will never forget the loved one.

 

However, long-lasting grief has been shown to cause various health problems. The state of prolonged intense grief is called “complicated grief”

(see “What is grief?” On the “Complicated grief and depression” page).

 

Please consult either a psychiatrist or psychosomatic physician, a counselor, a public health nurse, a psychotheapist, a public health center, or other support groups if your daily life is affected through experiencing any of the following for months at a time.

 

  • Cannot find the meaning of life
  • Feeling you should have died with your loved one
  • Strongly feeling that the death/missing of the loved one is your fault and often blaming yourself.
  • Cannot have a normal daily life
  • Feeling numb, as if all emotion has disappeared
  • Cannot trust anybody after bereavement
  • Excessively avoiding meeting and interacting with other people
  • Long term mental and physical dysfunction
  • Excessive smoking, drinking and medicinal intake        etc.