Are grief support groups helpful?

Grief

Grief will affect us all at some point in our lives.  It is not something that we can hide from.  Grief can happen after losing a loved one, the ending of a relationship, even getting fired from a job.  What causes grief for one person does not necessarily cause grief for someone else.  It is a personal experience, but there are benefits of sharing your experiences with others and finding hope in recovery from the grief.

Stages of Grief

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist who studied grief and loss, has coined five stages of Grief.  These stages are not linear, and you do not pass through each stage to get to the last stage, and then “poof” you are healed.  You can vacillate through the stages.  Understanding the stages can help gauge whether you are ready to be part of a support group.  The first stage is denial.  This stage is to help be a buffer.  It is our minds' way to cope with the loss.  The second stage is anger.  This is self-explanatory and can be taken out on really anything that might not even have to do with the loss.  The third is bargaining which can help us grasp any hope of the situation.  If I do this, the person will come back to me as an example of this stage.  The fourth is sadness or depression.  This is a very important stage and one that needs to happen to grieve successfully.  Giving yourself time to be sad is very important.  The last stage is acceptance. This does not mean that you are okay, but it is about acknowledging the loss.  Reaching out to a support group during any of these stages could be very helpful, but it again is very personal to you when you feel ready.

The benefit of Support Groups

Joining a support group can help normalize the pain of the loss that you are experiencing. The feeling that you are not alone can do a lot for anyone.  If you are in a healthy group, you can meet other people that can be instrumental in your grief recovery.  Usually, in groups, you will have people in all different stages of their healing journey, and you can learn from those who have been grieving for some time and empathize with those who are newly experiencing the grief. So, wherever you are in your grief, a group can help with the process by building a community with others and empathizing with them. The act of belonging to a group can help you feel connected, which can help with your happiness and overall well-being.  Lastly, the group can inspire hope.  Seeing others who have been through similar situations and seem to be doing well on the healing journey can help see the light at the end of the tunnel.