The Stages of Grief and How Can Funeral Homes Help

After someone we love dies, it is completely normal to go through a process to mourn the loss. New emotions that feel overwhelming or confusing may arise. This process has been analyzed by professionals with the intention of helping people out in coping with it. Some funeral homes in South Charleston, WV might be able to help you, as long as you request assistance from the right place. Barlow Bonsall Funeral Home & Crematorium has been around for enough time and thus counts on the necessary expertise to guide you through such an impactful moment in your life.

5 Stages of Grief

These are basically the most common reactions to loss. It may come as a surprise that these not only happen after losing someone to death. They could also be the result of any of life’s important changes; for example, finding about a fatal illness or ending a close relationship.

The 5 most common stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Denial

For most people, this is the first response they have to loss. It could be considered the most confusing out of them all. The shock that comes afterward usually clouds reasoning in a way, that the person won’t be able to believe what is actually going on. An example of this would be a person who constantly fantasizes about the phone ringing with the news that there was a mistake and that the loved one is in fact, not dead.

Anger

Coming around the idea of loss is not easy but it eventually happens. A normal phase to look out for at this point is anger. Pain from a loss tends to be redirected as anger. Interestingly enough even this anger serves a purpose. Anger might be looked at as a way to reconnect with the world after isolation consequence of the denial stage. Try reminding yourself or your loved one, that underneath it all, there is pain.

Bargaining

This one is a way of holding on to hope. During the anger stage, you already thought: “Why me?” Now, you have an internal negotiation going on inside. At this point, you are just thinking about what you need to do in order to get your life back in return. Guilt is a normal consequence since you have this internal dialogue that is telling you that if you had done such and such differently, then, this wouldn’t have happened.

Depression

Depression would not be considered a sign of mental health condition in a situation like this. It is, in fact, a normal response to grief. It might feel overwhelming, as it could cause the person to feel fatigued, confused, distracted, vulnerable, not hungry, not able or willing to get ready in the morning, not able to enjoy the activities that used to be fun.

Acceptance

Unfortunately, reaching this stage doesn’t necessarily mean that healing is complete. In fact, it might never be. But reaching acceptance comes with a strong sense of peace. This could happen during the funeral, in South Charleston, WV itself or it could take longer. There is definitely no right timing for or way of dealing with the 5 stages of loss.