Grief is universal. At some point, everyone will have at least one encounter with grief. It may be from the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the end of a relationship, or any other change that alters life as you know it.Grief is also very personal. It’s not very neat or linear. It doesn’t follow any timelines or schedules. You may cry, become angry, withdraw, or feel empty. None of these things are unusual or wrong.Everyone grieves differently, but there are some commonalities in the stages and the order of feelings experienced during grief.

The Stages of Grief: What Do You Need to Know?

In 1969, a psychiatrist named Elizabeth Kübler-Ross wrote a book “On Death and Dying” that grief could be divided into five stages. Her observations came from years of working with terminally ill individuals.Her theory of grief became known as the Kübler-Ross model. While it was originally devised for people who were ill, these stages of grief have been adapted for other experiences with loss, too.The five stages of grief may be the most widely known, but it’s far from the only popular stages of grief theory. Others exist as well, including ones with seven stages and ones with just two.

Are there 5 or 7 stages of grief?

·       Denial·       Anger·       Bargaining·       Depression·       acceptance

The 5 stages of grief

Grief is an overwhelming emotion. It’s not unusual to respond to the strong and often sudden feelings by pretending the loss or change isn’t happening.Denying it gives you time to more gradually absorb the news and begin to process it. This is a common defense mechanism and helps numb you to the intensity of the situation.As you move out of the denial stage, however, the emotions you’ve been hiding will begin to rise. You’ll be confronted with a lot of sorrow you’ve denied. That is also part of the journey of grief, but it can be difficult.

Stage 1: Denial

Where denial may be considered a coping mechanism, anger is a masking effect. Anger is hiding many of the emotions and pain that you carry.This anger may be redirected at other people, such as the person who died, your ex, or your old boss. You may even aim your anger at inanimate objects. While your rational brain knows the object of your anger isn’t to blame, your feelings in that moment are too intense to act according to that.Anger may mask itself in feelings like bitterness or resentment. It may not be clear-cut fury or rage.

Stage 2: Anger

During grief, you may feel vulnerable and helpless. In those moments of intense emotions, it’s not uncommon to look for ways to regain control or to want to feel like you can affect the outcome of an event. In the bargaining stage of grief, you may find yourself creating a lot of “what if” and “if only” statements.It’s also not uncommon for religious individuals to try to make a deal or promise to God or a higher power in return for healing or relief from the grief and pain. Bargaining is a line of defense against the emotions of grief. It helps you postpone the sadness, confusion, or hurt.

Stage 3: Bargaining

Whereas anger and bargaining can feel very active, depression may feel like a quiet stage of grief.In the early stages of loss, you may be running from the emotions, trying to stay a step ahead of them. By this point, however, you may be able to embrace and work through them in a more healthful manner. You may also choose to isolate yourself from others in order to fully cope with the loss.That doesn’t mean, however, that depression is easy or well defined. Like the other stages of grief, depression can be difficult and messy. It can feel overwhelming. You may feel foggy, heavy, and confused.

Stage 4: Depression

Acceptance is not necessarily a happy or uplifting stage of grief. It doesn’t mean you’ve moved past the grief or loss. It does, however, mean that you’ve accepted it and have come to understand what it means in your life now.You may feel very different in this stage. That’s entirely expected. You’ve had a major change in your life, and that upends the way you feel about many things.Look to acceptance as a way to see that there may be more good days than bad. There may still be bad — and that’s OK.

Stage 5: Acceptance

The seven stages of grief are another popular model for explaining the many complicated experiences of loss. These seven stages include:·       Shock and denial·       Pain and guilt·       Anger and bargaining·       Depression·       The upward turn·       Reconstruction and working through·       Acceptance and hope

The 7 stages of grief

This is a state of disbelief and numbed feelings.

Shock and denial:

You may feel that the loss is unbearable and that you’re making other people’s lives harder because of your feelings and needs.

Pain and guilt:

You may lash out, telling God or a higher power that you’ll do anything they ask if they’ll only grant you relief from these feelings or this situation.

Anger and bargaining:

This may be a period of isolation and loneliness during which you process and reflect on the loss.

Depression:

At this point, the stages of grief like anger and pain have died down, and you’re left in a more calm and relaxed state.

The upward turn:

You can begin to put pieces of your life back together and move forward.

Reconstruction and working through:

There’s no one stage that’s universally considered to be the hardest to endure. Grief is a very individual experience. The toughest stage of grief varies from person to person and even from situation to situation.Grief is different for every person. There’s no exact time frame to adhere to. You may remain in one of the stages of grief for months but skip other stages entirely.Additionally, not everyone will experience all stages of grief, and you may not go through them in order. For example, you may begin coping with loss in the bargaining stage and find yourself in anger or denial next.

Analysis of Stages of Grief Theory - 1

Avoiding, ignoring, or denying yourself the ability to express your grief may help you dissociate from the pain of the loss you’re going through. But holding it in won’t make it disappear. And you can’t avoid grief forever.Over time, unresolved grief can turn into physical or emotional manifestations that affect your health.In order to heal from a loss and move on, you have to address it. If you’re having trouble processing grief, consider seeking out counseling to help you through it.Grief is a natural emotion to experience when going through a loss.

Analysis of Stages of Grief Theory - 2

While everyone experiences grief differently, identifying the various stages of grief can help you anticipate and comprehend some of the reactions you may experience throughout the grieving process. It can also help you understand your needs when grieving and find ways to have them met.Understanding the grieving process can ultimately help you work toward acceptance and healing.

Analysis of Stages of Grief Theory - 3

The key to understanding grief is realizing that no one experiences the same thing. Grief is very personal, and you may feel something different every time. You may need several weeks, or grief may be years long.If you decide you need help coping with the feelings and changes, a mental health professional is a good resource for vetting your feelings and finding a sense of assurance in these very heavy and weighty emotions.

The takeaway

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”-Winnie the Pooh

Grief Quote

The Stages of Grief: What You Need To Know

While everyone experiences grief differently, here’s a rough estimation of what to expect when going through a difficult life event.

The Stages of Grief: How to Understand Your Feelings

Crying is a common human action, and it can be triggered by many different emotions. But why do humans cry?Researchers have found that crying can benefit both your body and your mind, and these benefits begin at birth with a baby’s first cry. Keep reading to learn more about the health benefits of crying

9 Ways Crying May Benefit Your Health

There are three different types of tears:1. reflex tears2. continuous tears3. emotional tearsReflex tears clear debris, like smoke and dust, from your eyes. Continuous tears lubricate your eyes and help protect them from infection. Emotional tears may have many health benefits. Whereas continuous tears contain 98 percent water, emotional tears contain stress hormones and other toxins. Researchers have theorized that crying flushes these things out of your system, though more research is needed in this area.

1. Detoxifies The Body 

Crying may be one of your best mechanisms to self-soothe. ResearchersTrusted Source have found that crying activates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The PNS helps your body rest and digest. The benefits aren’t immediate, however. It may take several minutes of shedding tears before you feel the soothing effects of crying.

2. Helps self-soothe

Crying for long periods of time releasesTrusted Source oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain. Once the endorphins are released, your body may go into somewhat of a numb stage. Oxytocin can give you a sense of calm or well-being. It’s another example of how crying is a self-soothing action.

3. Dulls pain

Along with helping you ease pain, crying, specifically sobbing, may evenTrusted Source lift your spirits. When you sob, you take in many quick breaths of cool air. Breathing in cooler air can help regulate and even lower the temperature of your brain. A cool brain is more pleasurable to your body and mind than a warm brain. As a result, your mood may improve after a sobbing episode.

4. Improves mood

If you’re feeling blue, crying is a way to let those around you know you are in need of support. This is known as an interpersonal benefitTrusted Source. From the time you were a baby, crying has been an attachment behavior. Its function is in many ways to obtain comfort and care from others. In other words, it helps to build up your social support network when the going gets tough.

5. Rallies support

Grieving is a process. It involves periods of sorrow, numbness, guilt, and anger. Crying is particularly important during periods of grieving. It may even helpTrusted Source you process and accept the loss of a loved one.Everyone goes through the grieving process in different ways. If you find that your crying is extreme or starting to interfere with your everyday life, it might be a good idea to check in with your doctor.

6. Helps you recover from grief

Crying doesn’t only happen in response to something sad. Sometimes you may cry when you are extremely happy, scared, or stressed. Researchers at Yale UniversityTrusted Source believe crying in this way may help to restore emotional equilibrium. When you’re incredibly happy or scared about something and cry, it may be your body’s way to recover from experiencing such a strong emotion.

7. Restores emotional balance

A baby’s very first cry out of the womb is a very important cry. Babies receive their oxygen inside the womb through the umbilical cord. Once a baby is delivered, they must start breathing on their own. The first cry is what helps a baby’s lungs adapt to life in the outside world.Crying also helps babies clear out any extra fluid in the lungs, nose, and mouth.

8. Helps baby breathe

Crying may also help babies sleep better at night. In a small study on infant sleep, 43 participants used graduated extinction, also known as controlled crying, to put their babies down to bed. With controlled crying, babies were left to cry for a set number of minutes before intervention from their parents. The crying increased both the sleep length and reduced the number of times the infants woke during the night. A year later, the crying did not appear to increase stress in the infants or negatively impact the parent-child bond.

9. Helps baby sleep

Crying in response to something that makes you happy or sad is normal and healthy. Don’t shy away from shedding tears if you feel the need to release. Excessive crying is something you should chat about with your doctor, however. If crying starts to interfere with your everyday activities, it may be a sign of depression.Other symptoms of depression include:*feelings of sadness or hopelessness*feelings of irritability or frustration*changes in appetite, or weight loss or gain*lack of energy*trouble sleeping or sleeping too much*unexplained aches or pains*thoughts of death or suicide

When should you seek help?

It’s OK to cry. It may even be beneficial to you. If you feel the need to cry, don’t hold back your tears. Tears are a normal, healthy way to express emotion.

Take

It is important to know how can crying benefits us....if we r sad 😔  but still we don't cry and hide our feelings but this is wrong cry out as much as u can and see how good we will feel 💜. We r human and this is a world full of people so anyhow u will be sad for something so cry out instead of hiding it inside😊😊

9 Benefits of Crying and Why It's Good and When to Get Help

Springer Nature supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the researchers and practitioners in policy and business tirelessly working towards them. For Mental Health Month we spoke to Dr Jack Tsai, the Editor-in-Chief of npj Mental Health Research.

I would describe my work as focused on innovative models of collaborative care targeting the needs of adults with serious mental health and housing needs. Most of this work has focused on homeless populations and ways to engage and provide behavioral health, primary care, and social services to them.

Please tell us about the nature of your work.

Not everybody is interested or capable of receiving traditional office-based mental health care for a variety of reasons. So the challenge I am seeking to undertake is to reach, engage, and serve those who need other ways to receive mental health care. This can be through new person-based approaches like through peer specialists, through non-traditional settings like legal aid offices, or new modalities like tele-health or virtual care.

Does your work intend to directly address ways in which we can improve mental health care services or access to care? 

My short-term goal is to develop interventions that are novel, different, and exciting to me and recipients. As one of my mentors often liked to say, most interventions do not work. But even if the interventions don’t end up working, it’s the adventure of science and research to develop new things and test them.Long-term goal, it may sound strange, is to understand how and when people can be weaned off interventions. Many interventions, whether they are medications, therapies, or social services, are offered with an indefinite time period.

What are the short and long-term goals of your work?

Like many people, policymakers are busy people so providing short concise ways to communicate to them (briefs, infographics, video clips) are important. In your communications, it should be clear what your ASK is and how it may benefit others. So far, my role in policy activities has been to educate, describe empirical evidence, and outline pros and cons of different approaches. By being impartial, one remains a trusted source of data and information.

What do you think is the most productive way that researchers can engage policy makers? 

Since I work in public health, public engagement is an essential component of the work of me and my colleagues. In other fields, public engagement often occurs at the end of the project when the findings are ready to be disseminated to the public.

What does public engagement look like in your field and how important is it?

However, in public health, public engagement can occur during the development of a project to obtain community buy-in, it can occur mid-way into the project to help troubleshoot some issues, and it occurs at the end of the project during the dissemination stage. Engaging the public and communities in which you are working in helps keep projects grounded, relevant, and invested in by the community. Engaging the public also allows you to receive constructive comments and keeps your work honest.

Public Engagement

I would like to see more concerted efforts to combine pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. Many prescribers know little about psychological therapy and many therapists know little about medications. I’m fortunate to have been trained as a clinical psychologist to provide therapy but I also have a master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology, so I understand the value of medications.

What progress would you like to see next towards the improvement of mental health care, worldwide and locally?

Many conditions are best served by some combination of medication and therapy, and there are also many opportunities for both of these to also be combined with complementary and alternative medicine approaches as well.How can progress in science & research contribute to the improvement of mental health care access and support the fight against stigma?Technological advances have already contributed greatly to improving access to mental health care and reducing stigma. For example, online resources and social media has destigmatized the many ways that people can and should seek help.

Science & Research

I expect new technologies will continue to improve things in this respect. However, I think it’s also important to be careful about unintended consequences. In efforts to reduce stigma, we don’t want to trivialize mental illness, over-pathologize natural human reactions, or dismiss human propensity for resilience. Of course, it’s a delicate balance that progress in science and research can help tread.  Discover Springer Nature's SDG3 Hub about Good Health and Well-Being.

Springer Nature

About the author: Jack Tsai, PhD MSCP serves as Campus Dean and Professor of Public Health at UTHealth, and Research Director for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Homeless Programs Office. He is a clinical psychologist and previously served as a professor and directed the Division of Mental Health Services Research at Yale School of Medicine for a decade. Dr. Tsai currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for npj Mental Health Research.

About the author

Springer Nature supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the researchers and practitioners in policy and business tirelessly

Life

Mental Health is Important for Public Health | For Researchers

Are you a glass half-empty or half-full sort of person? Studies have demonstrated that both can impact your physical and mental health and that being a positive thinker is the better of the two. How to think positive thoughts<ol><li>Focus on the good things</li><li>Practice gratitude</li><li>Keep a gratitude journal</li><li>Open yourself up to humor</li><li>Spend time with positive people</li><li>Practice positive self-talk</li><li>Identify your areas of negativity</li><li>Start every day on a positive note</li></ol>

Benefits of Thinking Positively, and How to Do It

Positive thinking has been shown to physically improve your health and well-being. You won’t undo years of negative thoughts overnight, but with practice you can learn to approach things with a positive outlook. Here's how.

How to Think Positive and Have an Optimistic Outlook: 8 Tips

According to the American Psychiatric Association, major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious illness that is common and treatable. Major <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/mental-health/depression/">depression</a> negatively impacts how someone thinks, <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/category/emotions/">feels</a>, and acts and is characterized by feelings of <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/humanness-and-emotions/emotions/sadness/">sadness</a> or loss of interest in activities that they once enjoyed.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

When someone experiences chronic, severe symptoms that require professional treatment, their disorder will typically be referred to as major depressive disorder or clinical depression.

The Stages of Grief: How to Understand Your Feelings

9 Benefits of Crying and Why It's Good and When to Get Help

Mental Health is Important for Public Health | For Researchers

How to Think Positive and Have an Optimistic Outlook: 8 Tips

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) - The Human Condition

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!