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a-z mental health : bereavement
  
 
 
 
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  People cope with the loss of a loved one in many ways. For some, the experience may lead to personal growth, even though it is a difficult and trying times. There is no right way of coping with death. The way a person grieves depends on:  
 
• The personality of that personality
• The relationship with the person who has died
 
     
  How a person copes with the grief is affected by:  
 
• The person's cultural and religious background
• Mental history
• Support systems
• The person's social and financial status
• Coping skills

 
  The terms grief, bereavement and mourning are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings.  
 
 
  Grief is the normal process of reacting to the loss. Grief reactions may be felt in response to physical losses (for example, a death) or in response to symbolic or social losses (for example, divorce or loss of a job). Each type of loss means the person has had something taken away. Grief may be experienced as a mental, physical, social, or emotional reaction.  
     
  Mental reactions can include:  
 
• Anger
• Guilt
• Sadness
  Despair
 
  Physical reactions can include:  
 
• Sleeping problems
• Changes in appetite
• Physical problems or illness
 
  Social reactions can include:  
 
• Feelings about taking care of others in the family
• Seeing family or friends or returning to work
 
     
  Grief may be described as the presence of physical problems, constant thoughts of the person who died, guilt, hostility, and a change in the way one normally acts.  
     
  Bereavement is the period after a loss during which grief is experienced and mourning occurs. The time spent in a period of bereavement depends on how attached the person was to the person who died, and how much time was spent anticipating the loss.  
     
  Mourning is the process by which people adapt to a loss. Mourning is also influenced by cultural customs, rituals, and society’s rules for coping with loss.  
 
 
  Grief work includes the processes that a mourner needs to complete before resuming daily life. These processes include:  
 
• Separating from the person who died
• Forming new relationships.
• Readjusting to a world without him or her
 
     
  To separate from the person who died, a person must find another way to redirect the emotional energy that was given to the loved one. This does not mean the person was not loved or should be forgotten, but that the mourner needs to turn to others for emotional satisfaction.