CBT Grief Counseling Techniques: Effective Grief Therapy To Support Your Mental Health

Despite seminal research on the various stages of grief and how they impact mental health, there may be no specific roadmap to grief recovery that fits every person. Grief can be an experience distinct to each individual. How grief is expressed, felt, or treated is not necessarily choreographed in a neat timeline with distinct patterns. This is why counseling grief encompasses a wide variety of formats and applications.

While many associate grief with loss of human life, other potentially traumatic events, such as divorce or the news of a major or terminal illness diagnosis, can result in grieving, and in each of these cases the grief process may look entirely different. Anticipatory grief, complicated grief, prolonged grief disorder, and more will be explored here. Understanding human neuroscience and how grief counseling techniques or grief therapy work may help you better understand the phenomenon of grieving.

Understanding grief 

The intensity of the complicated grief experience

Grief related to the death of a family member or loved one or other significant loss can be complicated by other factors that disrupt the grieving process. For example, someone may lose their items and home when losing a spouse, causing several losses. The individual going through multiple losses related to the primary loss may find themself also experiencing depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms like headaches, nausea, or trouble sleeping. These symptoms of the grieving process can be complicated or increased if the person is already living with mental illness.

Grief counseling techniques used by therapists and counselors to help individuals move through the grieving process can be implemented based on the situation, the individual, and the type of grief.

Grief in culture

In many cultures, grieving after a loved one's death is respected as a sacred, complex process and is commonly a public process. Individuals attempting to process grief healthily may wear an article of clothing during the funeral arrangements that symbolizes this complicated grief process so that others understand what is occurring. In American culture, though attitudes may change, it can be uncommon to display grief publicly after the death of a loved one.  Some American cultures may have more public funerals or ceremonies, yet in many cases grief isn’t expected to last past the funeral arrangements. 

In many cultures, the family is a source of comfort in grieving. For some people, after a loved one’s death, they are not expected to recover immediately, go on with life, go back to work, or consider new connections. 

Grieving individuals may be encouraged to find other connections after losing a loved one. However, pushing someone to move on before they're ready may cause further harm. The grieving process can be personal; there may not be a "right" or "wrong" way to grieve. Grief counseling can remind a person in grieving that they don't need to rush their feelings. They may learn that, while often unpleasant, grief can be necessary to feel and healthily navigate before finding acceptance. 

Grief counselor techniques: Overcoming depression, complicated grief, and other emotional challenges

Some common emotional reactions experienced with the grief process are ones you may be familiarized with from the five-stage model, including: 

• Intense sadness 
• Anger
• Disbelief or shock 
• Denial
• Bargaining 
• Guilt
• Acceptance 

Cycling through emotions

However, grievers might feel multiple, complex emotions simultaneously, and some individuals in grief and loss may not feel one or more of those emotional reactions. Grief is personal, and all of these experiences can be valid. It can also be normal to feel other emotions or cycle through the emotions several times. 

For some who are going through the grieving process, it may be helpful to seek grief counseling with a grief counselor. Grief counseling techniques and therapy can be helpful if you do not have a support system that allows being open about your grief and mental health. You might also benefit if your current coping strategies are not helping you work through your feelings. You may feel stuck in a prolonged and intense grief process, which can be referred to as complicated grief. In these cases, grief counseling could be valuable.

Grief therapy techniques 

There are several grief counseling techniques employed by a grief counselor, including the following. 

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT grief therapy techniques

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may help those experiencing chronic grief who dwell on the sudden death or loss of a loved one. Without healthy coping mechanisms taught through therapy, those with prolonged grief (grief experienced for a prolonged period) may experience negative thoughts and self-defeating behaviors. Current research also supports that Internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and complicated grief therapy are highly effective in persons with complicated grief due to their ability to remain in steady contact with a counselor. 

Bibliotherapy 

Bibliotherapy is one of many grief counseling techniques in which the bereft documents their life in the past tense before losing the loved one. In this therapy, focusing on time had with the loved one may help an individual move on from the loss, recall memories, and explore positive experiences. Bibliotherapy might be seen as a type of art therapy. Like play therapy, it's a form of creating to work through emotions.

Expressive techniques 

Expressive techniques may be used with children and clients who value creativity. Clients may be asked in grief therapy to "draw their feelings" as a form of art therapy, and bereaved adults may be asked to journal their negative feelings or write a letter to a lost loved one. Expressing your thoughts and feelings can be like a form of therapy as this can help with identifying emotions as well as targeting behaviors that may be tied to grief.

The key to these grief counseling techniques may be the expression of difficult emotions. Accepting your negative and positive feelings can be essential instead of feeling that you "should" feel differently about your grief. Expressive creation can help people distinguish grief nuances, how it affects their mental health, and potentially accept how grief plays into their lives.

Why process grief through counseling? 

Grief counseling, whether acceptance and commitment therapy, CBT, group sessions, or other forms, often aids in the grieving process. It sets realistic expectations for working through the client's experience in their own time by not rushing it along or causing the grieving person to feel overwhelmed. Grief experts warn that attempting to process grief too quickly may result in difficulty working through and feeling pain over the death or loss of a loved one. Unresolved grief may lead to chronic or prolonged grief. 

Not processing grief in one's way, whether in a grief counseling support group or talk therapy, can significantly impact mental and physical health. The commitment therapy offers can be beneficial and offer structure after a challenging time, as well as provide healthy, proactive cognitive techniques and coping mechanisms to manage prolonged grief.

Further grief counseling evidence 

While medication can manage the physical symptoms of depression, anxiety, or insomnia, it might impede the grieving process by masking emotions. Overuse of substances or other types of distractions may also serve the temporary purpose of not feeling when an individual is overwhelmed by their negative cognitive thought patterns. 

However, by disconnecting from true feelings or past crises, they may not process them, heal, move forward, or build more vital coping skills. Feeling pain and learning how to move through it can be two themes in grief counseling that support people from various backgrounds and experiences. 

Lean into support systems for processing grief, depression, and mental health challenges

There may not be a scripted path to healing, even with the grief therapy process. Grief cannot necessarily be quantified or placed on a timeline. However, you do not have to grieve alone, and cognitive support is available through grief counseling including group counseling, online therapy, support groups, social work organizations, or even family counseling if other family members are involved. Additionally, many related articles show that treatment for grief can be necessary. 

Overall, there are few scenarios where it’s not a good idea to seek grief counseling after a sad or traumatic experience. Counselors, family, friends, and coworkers may help those experiencing traumatic grief by acting sympathetic to the process. All who are a part of the individual's life can support the grieving individual by offering an ear, a shoulder, and a presence when able. If you are experiencing grief, be sure to ask for help from family or a licensed counselor. 

Therapy options to support mental health

If you are feeling unequipped to deal with the reactions to a loss that you are experiencing, there are licensed mental health professionals, such as grief counselors and social workers, available to help you and provide some therapy. Time does not necessarily heal all wounds if you are not healthily coping with the grief process. Grief counseling may help you receive cognitive guidance when you are struggling to cope and help improve mental health issues and outcomes. If you struggle to leave home or keep appointments, you can also partake in grief counseling from home through online counseling or online therapy. 

Online therapy for working through grief

Online counseling and therapy can allow you to obtain professional, licensed grief therapy anywhere you have an internet connection. You can also choose between phone, video, and live chat sessions if you're unsure if you want to meet with a counselor face-to-face for your therapy session. Online therapy can provide a safe environment to discuss your experiences.

Effectiveness of CBT grief counseling techniques

Over the years, research has been conducted on the efficacy of online counseling and internet-based therapy. A 2021 study focusing on the effectiveness of internet-based CBT for depression and prolonged grief found that grief symptom reduction with I-CBT was 50% and 75% for those with depression. 

These results for internet-based therapy are comparable to in-person counseling results. Overall, the researchers concluded that the response rate to treatment was similar to face-to-face methods. However, internet-based interventions had advantages over traditional therapies. For example, online grief resources can be associated with less stigma, and can have reduced costs.