The Right Way to Grieve
It’s been a month since my husband died, and I’m still locked in this weird, self-conscious state of shock/numbness.
Shelley (from our local hospice society) brought me a book on grief, Coping With Grief: A Guide for the Bereaved Survivor, and I went straight to the chapters on Shock, Denial and Emotional Numbness — which, comfortingly, were the first chapters. I guess I’m not the only one to react to loss this way.
I found this helpful bit in the Emotional Numbness chapter:
The reactions of shock, denial, body numbness, and emotional numbness all work together to protect you from the incredible overload that would take place in your mind, body, and spirit if you received the full impact of your loss all at once.
While these naturally protective reactions may be confusing to you and to other people in your life, your brain’s natural tendency is to defend itself from pain by insulating and numbing itself.
- Coping with Grief, by Bob Baugher, Ph.D.
