When Grief Doesn't Go Away

The passing of time following a significant loss, which could be the death of a cherished one should progressively make the loss acceptable. Such loss engenders feelings of numbness, sadness, pain, and anger in some cases. The intensity of these emotions should normally decrease with the passage of time. In some cases, grief gets worse over time or doesn't get better. Such are cases of complicated grief. If the pain of your loss is constant and severe, and keeps you from moving on with your life, you are definitely suffering from complicated grief. Complicated Grief Disorder (CGD) is one in which a person is significantly and functionally impaired by prolonged grief symptoms for at least a month after six months of bereavement.You practically become imprisoned in a state of intense mourning. The main symptoms of complicated grief are:

• Loss of hope in life, identity, feeling that life holds no purpose or meaning
• Thinking or imagining that your loved one is alive
• Difficulty accepting the death of the loved person
• Total focus on your loved one's death
• Intense pain and sorrow over your loss
• Prime focus on reminders of the loved person or extreme avoidance of such reminders
• Continuously feeling life isn't worth living without the person you lost
• Continuously wishing you had died with the person you lost
• Continuous longing and yearning for the deceased
• Continuous disbelief in the death of the loved one
• Having trouble carrying out day-to-day routines
• Feelings of extreme anger or bitterness over your loss

Females and those with histories of important losses are more liable to complicated grief. Such painful and long-lasting grief could also develop as a result of:

• A child's death
• The experience of an early pregnancy loss
• Going through traumatic childhood with experiences such as neglect or abuse
• Unexpected or violent death such as deaths from accidents, suicide or murder
• Positive caregiving experience(s) and dependency o the deceased
• A history of separation anxiety, a past history of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Complicated grief is a pertinent and critical condition. If you or anyone close to a deceased person experiences any of the aforementioned symptoms, seek professional mental healthcare. Treatment is necessary given that people with complicated grief are at risk of experiencing worse emotional illness and are at a higher risk of taking their own lives.