Grief has been common amongst the entire human race and thus, is an important issue to be considered as it could turn into something more severe and drastic which can further cause mental instability. There exist several sorts of grief that people usually go through, but the majority know about only a handful. Keeping all this in mind, we have come up with the various types of grief that presently exist.
16 Commonly Ignored Types of Grief
1. Normal grief
‘Normal Grief’ simply refers to the response to grief that falls under the extremely wide umbrella of prediction. It is not uncommon to experience moments of intense sadness and loneliness, such as longing, crying, dreaming of a loved one, anger, denial, sadness, or despair, and these are just a few of the common causes of this.
2. Anticipatory grief
‘Anticipatory grief’ is a reaction to death that you have been able to imagine when a person dies of a long-term illness. As soon as you accept and understand that your loved one is going to die, you begin to grieve. Grief that precedes the loss may be confusing, as you may not feel compelled or guilty to hear the grieving reaction of someone who is still here. You may experience anger, loss of control, and a lack of help.
3. Complicated grief
It means responding to grief and feelings of loss that are debilitating, long-lasting, or impairing your ability to perform your daily activities. Some believe that ‘Complicated grief’ is simply a manifestation of the response to grief along with other mental illnesses such as Depression and Anxiety.
4. Chronic grief
Strong reactions to grief are endless and last a long time. Constantly experiencing severe stress with loss without progress in feeling better or in improving performance.
5. Delayed Grief
This might occur when symptoms of grief and remorse are not found until long after the death of a person or much later than usual. An anxious person, who consciously or unknowingly avoids the truth and the pain of loss, suppresses this reaction.
6. Distorted grief
Some of the most common symptoms are excessive, profound, or different extremes of change – as opposed to self-destructive behavior and actions. Anger and hatred for others are common.
7. Abbreviated grief:
A temporary sad response. The process of grief is often short-lived because the role of the deceased is quickly filled by another person/object, because there was little attachment to the deceased, and/or that person can accept and reconcile the immediate loss due to the ‘Anticipatory grief’.
8. Prolonged grief
The response to grief is long-lasting and intense. The wound is not paralyzed by grief and daily function is paralyzed for a long time. A person who has spent a lot of time thinking about death, longing to be reunited, and unable to adjust to life without that person.
9. Exaggerated Grief
The severity of the normal response to grief may worsen over time. It is characterized by excessive and extreme reactions that may include nightmares, self-harm, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, unusual fears, and the development or emergence of mental disorders.
10. Secondary Loss
When a loss affects many areas of a person’s life, it causes a lot of losses that result from a “major loss”. While it is easy to imagine that our only grief is the loss of a loved one in death, our grieving process is also accompanied by the grief of losing another loved one.
11. Masked grief
The traumatic reaction impairs normal function but one cannot see these symptoms and behaviors are related to loss. Symptoms are often disguised as physical symptoms or other forms of misconduct.
12. Disenfranchised grief
It occurs when one’s culture, community, or support group makes them feel their loss and/or grief is unacceptable and insignificant by the person. This can happen when death is discriminated against (suicide, drug overdose, HIV / AIDS, drunk driving), relationships are considered unimportant (ex-partner, co-worker, pregnancy, pet), relationships are considered public (same-sex partner, gang member), etc.
13. Traumatic Grief
Common grief responses received are associated with traumatic stress in the death of a loved one in a manner that appears frightening, intimidating, unexpected, violent, and/or traumatic. Grief is enough to ruin a day’s work.
14. Collective grief
Grief is experienced by a united group as a community, community, district, or nation as a result of an event such as war, natural disaster, terrorist attack, death, or another event that results in mass casualties or national tragedy.
15. Ambiguous grief or loss
Unexplained loss can also lead to different perceptions of who or what is missing. People and those around them may ask if the loss has occurred or if this is a loss that should confirm deep emotional responses (such as the death of an unacceptable person).
16. Inhibited grief
It occurs when a person does not show any outward signs of grief for a long time. The person prevents their grief, eventually leading to physical manifestations and somatic complaints.
Read also – 30 Self Care Activities for Your Mind and Body
