LIving with Grief

You may find yourself caught between waves of sorrow, anger, guilt, or emptiness - wondering how to live in a world without them.

While grief is a natural and universal response to loss, sometimes it becomes overwhelming: when sadness persists, when daily life feels unmanageable, or when physical or emotional symptoms intensify.

At that point, reaching out for support is not a sign of failure, it’s a step toward finding a way to carry your loss more gently and meaningfully.

What is Grief?

Grief is the emotional, psychological, and physical response to losing someone or something important.

While often linked to bereavement, grief can also follow the loss of relationships, health, identity, or future plans. Everyone grieves differently, and there is no “right” way to grieve.

Symptoms of Grief

• Deep sadness, yearning, or emptiness

• Anger, guilt, or regret

• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions

• Changes in sleep or appetite

• Withdrawal from others or loss of interest in activities

• Feeling numb or detached

• Preoccupation with the person or loss

• In complicated grief, intense symptoms may persist for many months or years

Types of Grief

• Normal grief: a process that evolves over time with ups and downs

• Complicated grief: when grief remains intense and prolonged

• Anticipatory grief: grieving before a loss occurs, such as in terminal illness

• Disenfranchised grief: when a loss is not recognised or validated by others

How Therapy Can Help with Grief

Therapy doesn’t aim to erase the pain of your loss, but it offers a compassionate container to explore it.

Together, you will look at which reminders or triggers bring intense emotion, and work on strategies to regulate anger, guilt, or numbness.

Through narrative, memory work, or ritual-based approaches, you can begin to weave the loss into your life story - holding onto what you loved, while gradually making space to live again.

Some clients find it helpful to reframe their relationship with what’s lost, to create new rituals, or to explore meaning and legacy.

Therapy also supports building resilience, learning coping strategies for difficult days, and reconnecting with life - not by forgetting, but by integrating your grief with purpose and care.