03/21/2022
The new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders added a new disorder: prolonged grief
Pathologizing grief is harmful
Giving a time frame to grief is harmful
—
Grief shouldn’t be pathologized!
People don’t move on from grief!
People move with grief!
—
With the inclusion of "Prolonged Grief" in the DSM, grief:
* can now be billed through insurance companies (increased gatekeeping)
* will be held by a set of specific identified symptoms
* will be held to identified "normal" time frames (currently 1 year)
* is viewed as an individual experience/issue
* may be seen as a new growth market for drug companies
—
People are experiencing the effects of personal losses as well as collective traumas, the pandemic, inequalities, discrimination, oppression, patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, racism, war, financial instability, ableism, food insecurities, housing insecurities, and more!
Grief is also a symptom of the system!
—
So many people have not been able to engage in their grief rituals or practices with their community or family due to the pandemic
Some having to wait weeks to
bury their loved ones while isolating because of the amount of deaths occurring simultaneously
—
Pressures are experienced and based on capitalistic standards of “function” and don’t allow for authentic grief experiences
—
THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT GRIEF
* Your pain is yours, in your own way, on your own time
* People don't move on from grief, but move with it
* Time does not heal all wounds
* Grief doesn't need to be fixed, it needs to be felt
* Grief and love are cut from the same cloth, neither to be pathologized
* Grief is a fundamental human experience
