Understanding Absent Grief

Grief is a natural outcome of losing something important in life and planning cremation services Hellertown, PA. Psychologists argue that working through your grief is a must to begin the healing journey. That’s why grief is an important part of anyone’s life after losing a loved one. 

But what if you are unable to grieve? Unsurprisingly, this experience is known as absent grief and the person feels as if the emotions have been put on hold. This can happen to any person coping with the loss of a loved one. 

Here are some key facts about absent grief: 

1. The Person Is Avoiding Grief 

Absent grief usually stems from running away from your emotions or suppressing them to appear strong or shield someone. For instance, the person is ignoring their own emotions to take care of kids, the surviving parent, or the grandparent. 

Similarly, it can happen if you’re taking on more and more work to take your mind off the loss. And some grieving people find themselves turning to drugs or drinking which can put the emotions on hold – though temporarily. 

2. Experiencing the Denial Stage 

The denial is a critical stage of the grief journey where the person denies the death happened. It occurs for a very short time like a few hours after the loss when the mind is still processing the loss. 

3. Not a Close Relationship with the Deceased 

Stating the obvious, if you have not had a close connection to the lost loved one, the grief doesn’t affect you overwhelmingly, and you get over the emotions easier. Note that it’s OK if you don’t demonstrate deep grief over losing a family member that you don’t even know. 

4. Absent Grief Can Have Symptoms 

Even absent grief often takes its toll on your body. Some people assume that if you don’t grieve, you won’t experience all the symptoms of grief. It cannot get any farther from the truth. Absent grief is likely to manifest in physical or emotional symptoms at some point 

You may develop: 

• Insomnia 
  
• Eating disorders such as overeating or not eating 
  
• Fatigue or exhaustion 
  
• Heart palpitations 
  
• High blood pressure 

5. Anticipatory Grief Can Cause absent grief. 

If you are already anticipating the death of a loved one, you’re likely to experience anticipatory grief. This type of grief begins before death takes place. And thus, if you have already grieved a ton over someone before they died, it can be the reason for absent grief. 

6. Major Life Events Can Cause Absent Grief 

Aside from losing a loved one, many other events can also trigger absent grief. For instance: 

• Divorce 
• Regret 
• Job loss 
• Loss of a friendship or romantic relationship 
• Moving to a new house or state 
• Raising a child with a disability 

7. Moving Forward from Absent Grief is Not Difficult 

Remember that there is always hope for healing and you can move forward even when you cannot express your emotions. For that, the need is to accept the loss and try to adapt to the changed reality after cremation services Hellertown, PA.