That prolonged grief seems to be related to the impacts of job loss on self-esteem and belief in a just world (Papa, A., et. “You can experience grief over anything that feels like a loss of identity.” Research shows, for instance, that losing a job can trigger a period of prolonged grief distinct from anxiety or depression. We don’t only grieve for what’s missing, but also for the ways in which those losses affect our senses of self, Bonanno says. “We’re talking about grieving a living loss - one that keeps going and going,” he says. Going forward, people will experience new losses we can’t yet predict.
COVID PATIENTS COMING BACK TO LIFE SERIES
As the pandemic has evolved, people have had to confront a series of losses: The loss of a sense of safety, of social connections and personal freedoms, of jobs and financial security. And that lack of clarity can make it hard to move forward. “These lack the clarity and definition of a single point like a death,” Neimeyer explains. Many of the losses we’re experiencing now are so-called ambiguous losses. “This pandemic forces us to confront the frailty of such attachments, whether it’s to our local bookstore or the routines that sustain us through our days.” “We’re capable of losing places, projects, possessions, professions and protections, all of which we may be powerfully attached to,” he says. Of course, we aren’t only attached to other humans, Neimeyer says. Research from the bereavement literature shows that the nature of a person’s attachments has an effect on their grief reactions. It’s OK to allow yourself to be distracted and entertained, and even to laugh.” Shaking our sense of self “People who cope well with loss usually move in and out of those states. People should expect to fluctuate between moments of sadness and mourning, and moments of acceptance or even happiness, he says. Grief is also transient, even when we’re in the midst of its clutches.
His research suggests that once a crisis has passed, most people are able to bounce back and move on with their lives. When we do that, it allows us to let grief do its job, so that we can move on.” “It’s okay to feel grief over what we’re losing. “Grief is really about turning inward and recalibrating, and thinking: ‘This is not the way the world is anymore, and I need to adapt,’” he says. Though grief is difficult, it helps to recognize that it’s natural and useful, says George Bonanno, PhD, a psychologist who heads the Loss, Trauma and Emotion Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. Grief is natural, and most people are resilient
COVID PATIENTS COMING BACK TO LIFE HOW TO
Grief and loss experts share what they know about the ways we’re mourning now - and how to help those who are grieving. “Those are among the losses that can be addressed by mental health professionals.” “The losses include our sense of predictability, control, justice, and the belief that we can protect our children or elderly loved ones,” he says. It’s upending our understanding of the world around us, says Robert Neimeyer, PhD, director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Memphis. The crisis isn’t just shaking our faith in those systems. “There is a communal grief as we watch our work, health-care, education and economic systems - all of these systems we depend on - destabilize,” she says. But even people who haven’t lost anything so concrete as a job or a loved one are affected, Cormier says. Many people are reckoning with individual losses, including illness and death due to the novel coronavirus, or loss of employment as a result of economic upheaval. “It’s important that we start recognizing that we’re in the middle of this collective grief. While the situation provokes anxiety, stress and sadness, it is also a time of collective sorrow, says Sherry Cormier, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in grief and grief mentoring. The COVID-19 pandemic is an epidemiological crisis, but also a psychological one.
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