05/05/2025
Grief is never easy. And though we tend to associate grief with death, other life events can trigger grief, too — from the end of a relationship and the loss of a job to financial hardship.
Denial:
Denial refers to the difficulty in comprehending the reality of a loss. It can take a while to wrap your head around the fact that you’ve experienced a significant loss — that things are different, and they’re not going back to the way they were.
Bargaining:
The bargaining process sometimes happens before your loss has fully occurred. We engage in a type of mental gymnastics to try to undo something that can’t be undone.
Anger:
Anger is a perfectly natural response, and in the case of loss, it can be directed at a variety of sources. It can also manifest as blame — the feeling that someone is at fault for your loss.
Depression:
Symptoms of the depression stage of grief can include:
Loss of hope about the future
Feeling directionless, lost or confused about your life
Problems concentrating
Difficulty making decisions
Grief can cause physical symptoms, too, like aches and pains, changes in sleep patterns and increased inflammation in your body, which can worsen existing health issues and lead to new ones.
Acceptance:
The pain of your grief may never fully fade. But acceptance means learning to live with the loss — acknowledging this new reality and allowing sorrow and joy to live alongside one another.
These stages are meant to be descriptive, not prescriptive. This means they won’t necessarily apply to everyone or happen in the order presented. It’s common to weave in and out of stages and experience elements of them at the same time. If you’re experiencing intense emotional distress or struggling to return to your regular routine after your loss, consider talking to someone. Talking about loss, sharing your distress and having your grief witnessed can significantly facilitate the healing process.
