Degriefing - What is Degriefing?

What is Degriefing?

As mentioned, grief involves changes in a person's emotional, mental, spiritual and physical (somatic) states. Each person experiences grief differently from others and one's own grief related responses will vary over the course of a lifetime. However, a common thread that helps describe grief is: the sum of these involuntary reactions to a loss creates a definite disharmony within the individual. The resulting condition, called grief, ranges from being mildly unsettling to intensely painful. The severity of the grief depends on a variety of factors.

What makes grief unique? As stated, grief is a multi-faceted reaction. In addition to its mental and physical components, grief entails complex emotional changes. In contrast to simpler human conditions that might revolve around only one major emotion, grief entails many emotions that seem to overlap and intertwine. Rapid mood swings are commonly reported by the grieving. Grief also usually entails changes to one's spiritual state, especially if it is triggered by a death. Often a grieving individual's spiritual convictions will oscillate over the course of the grieving process.

All these changes: mental, physical, emotional and spiritual, mix together to create a unique human condition that is hard to categorize. Sometimes one facet of the grief experience percolates to the surface and it might appear to be the predominant grief-related trait (or symptom) but it's usually not fully descriptive of the individual's entire grief related experience. Grief is definitely a hard concept to explain using words; though once experienced, one easily grasps the meaning of the word.

We all experience loss in our lives, therefore we all experience grief. It can be stated that since our lives revolve around change, and each change (however minute or all encompassing) by definition involves a loss of some sort; our lives are full of events that provoke grief. This statement is true. Everyone does experience a range of involuntary responses to change on a daily basis (i.e., a person's body and mind are constantly reacting to the surrounding environment and external events).

These responses do have the potential to be debilitating (i.e. they can prevent or impair an optimal level of functioning). Fortunately, most people successfully integrate these reactions into their lives.They are able to exert a level of "damage control" over their minds and bodies and thus prevent permanent harm.

Yet not all of us cope successfully with the multifaceted changes we undergo. When grief causes lasting emotional, mental, spiritual and physical disorders it is beneficial to employ the services of a grief counselor to assist with the healing process. A fully trained and experienced grief counselor can not only relieve the suffering associated with grief; he or she can teach self-care techniques that can be applied throughout an individual's life. In other words, the grief counselor can help an individual transform an unpleasant, unavoidable experience into a less painful, manageable one. In addition, the personal insight gained during counseling can impart valuable and lasting knowledge.

The premise of the Degriefing Process is simple. Grief creates a state of physical and mental disharmony. The body and mind are inextricably linked. Therefore, health care techniques that attempt to alleviate the effects of grief must include both physical and mental treatments. Including somatic treatments along with appropriate verbal counseling will greatly promote the healing process. In addition, educating an individual about grief and teaching him or her practical self-care techniques can minimize the potential for developing serious, long term disorders when that individual invariably experiences grief again.

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