It is so difficult to lose someone close to us. For many, the COVID-19 pandemic sped that loss up even further. More and more of us have dealt with grief that we have never experienced before, and at any moment, it’s possible that someone we care about can be taken away.
It is natural to mourn the loss of someone you love. Mourning, in some ways, is a healthy way of processing death and grief. But loss should also not control your future. There are situations where a person may be mourning for “too long,” which shows us – as therapists – that it may be time to seek some additional help.
Signs that You May Benefit from Therapy for Grief and Loss
It is natural to feel sad when someone leaves us, and it is normal to feel that sadness on and off at different moments in time. But there are both clinical and non-clinical signs that your mourning may represent something a bit more. For example:
- You have been mourning for more than 12 months with a continued, significant emotional impact on your life.
- You are experiencing deep levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges as a result of your mourning.
- You are missing work, skipping out on events, or otherwise losing interest in things that you use to enjoy.
- You are seeking out unhealthy (maladaptive) coping strategies, like drugs or alcohol, in order to numb the pain of your loss.
- You are struggling with the idea of moving forward, and it feels as though your grief has become worse, not better.
These are some of the signs that you may have moved from “healthy mourning” to something a bit more difficult – something that may benefit from seeing a therapist with experience in grief and loss.
There is No Wrong Time to Seek Help
There is, clinically, such a thing as mourning for too long. But the truth is that loss is hard on anyone. There is no wrong time to seek help. If you feel like you are currently struggling with the loss of someone close to you, reaching out to a Long Island therapist that has experience in grief counseling is a good way to make sure that you’re able to move forward in a way that is right for you.
At Right Path Counseling in Jericho, NY, we can help you navigate some of the challenges associated with grief and provide you with help for moving forward, no matter how long it has been since you lost that person close to you. If you feel like you need help after loss, call Right Path Counseling, today.
