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Useful Ideas For Coping With Loss of life In The Family

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Dealing with death in the family is an especially difficult tragedy to handle. The event spirals many into a deep depression, while others are more prone to anger and still others may wind up turning to destructive coping mechanisms like drinking or drugs to try to numb the emotional turmoil and pain. Everyone’s reaction is different, of course.



How the family responds and functions as a unit going forward is also directly connected to the relationships and role the deceased had within the family. For this and many more reasons, dealing with death in the family is a family affair.

The family will be forever changed when it loses someone integral to how it once functioned. Don’t be surprised if stress, anger, resentment and jealousy erupt after someone else in the family has to step in and fill some of these roles. The disruptions in roles and the changes taking place can also alter and disrupt the grieving process certain family members wll go through. The key is to restore as much stability as possible in order to restore how the family operates and reduce the potential for tension. Dealing with death in family units this way is an important component of the overall process of grieving for a lost loved one.

Depending on their age, maturity, default emotional state and temperament, it’s important to remember that each member of the family will deal with the loss quite differently. Oftentimes, the varying manners of grieving can create tensions within the family. Learning to recognize conflicts as a symptom of dealing with death in family units is a great strength and a great help towards moving together as a cohesive units.

Once family members understand their differences in grieving, they can better support one another in the process of healing. To be sure, it’s imperative not to judge anyone else’s style of grieving for a dead relative. Instead, they should discuss their feelings and issues openly and honestly and offer support to one another. If this is too much of a challenge, it’s a good idea to seek out the help of a professional grief counselor, either for the entire family unit or for just one particularly troubled individual. It’s not easy to deal with death in family units, nor should it be, and it’s important to band together as a family to lift each other up and move forward, no matter how hard it may be at times.

Dealing with death in the family can be tough. 

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