How to face the death of a loved one?

• April 19, 2024

You know what you are made of until you face the loss of a loved one.

The death of a relative or close friend is one of the most painful and terrible experiences that any human being can experience. The fact that we will never see it again, listen to it or feel it close to us, make us feel a huge emptiness.

Take your time to cry, to scream and to relieve yourself of the pain you feel, but once this is done, calmly try to return to your daily activities, "recommends MA Garibay Morales, in his book" When a friend leaves. .. "

Phases of mourning

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss-American psychiatrist born in 1926 who specialized in palliative care and near-death situations.

After working for years in contact with terminally ill patients, he developed the famous model of Kübler-Ross in which he established five stages of mourning.

1. Stage of denial

Denying that someone is no longer with us because he has died allows us to cushion the blow and lessen part of the pain that this news brings us. Although it seems an unrealistic option, it helps to make the change of mood not so abrupt.

2. Stage of anger

It comes as a result of the frustration that death produces and that nothing can be done to reverse the situation.

3. Stage of negotiation

In this, the mind creates a defense mechanism in which it allows us to see death as a possibility that we are in a position to prevent from happening. The pain is alleviated by imagining that we have gone back in time, but it is brief because it does not fit with reality.

4. Depression stage

There is a strong sadness that can not be mitigated by excuses or imagination, and that leads us to enter into an existential crisis when considering the irreversibility of death.

5. Acceptance stage

It is at the moment in which death is accepted. You learn to live in a world without their presence.

The way to overcome it ...

Víctor Gutiérrez, a psychologist with specialty in Thanatology, shares for GetQoralHealth he makes the following recommendations.

Desahógate. Talking about death with friends will be a good way to overcome it.

Accept your feelings. Denying nothing will serve you and will only leave you more time in pain. It is normal to feel sadness, anger, frustration and even exhaustion.

Do not punish yourself Neglecting your health will not return that person. So take care, eat in your schedules and keep exercising as before.

Remember and celebrate the life of your loved one. Framing photos of happy moments that lived together, going to special places where they spent in company, or go to the pantheon and leave flowers, are some of the most significant ways to honor that special person.

Video Medicine: When Someone You Love Dies,There Is No Such Thing as Moving On | Kelley Lynn | TEDxAdelphiUniversity (April 2024).