Access to grief resources is among the cremation services offered in Clinton Township, MI.

However, some grieving family members may need more grief support so that they are able to process their grief and achieve a state where all-encompassing grief doesn’t overshadow everything else in their lives.

While all of us have the knowledge that, at some point in our lives, we will experience the loss of someone we love, what we can’t know is how the grief of that loss will affect us. Even if we already lost loved ones before, we will never be able to predict how we will respond to subsequent losses of loved ones.

The circumstances of death can make grief more challenging to deal with. Those circumstances can include the loss of a parent, the loss of a spouse, or the loss of a child. The death of our loved one may be sudden or violent, or it could be the result of a long illness.

On top of this, there may be other personal factors that shape and define the kind of grief we experience. These factors can include our religious beliefs, our cultures, our temperaments, our ages, and our lives’ experiences.

Because of this, it’s important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to grieve, and that the intensity and length of acute grief differs from person to person.

However, no matter how differently each of us processes grief, our grief shares some similarities.

After the initial shock and the acute, intense emotional pain that comes when a loved one dies, at some point (from a few weeks to a few years) the grief, though still always present, will eventually become more manageable.

And even though we will never not miss our loved one, we find a way to accept that this loss has happened. At that point, we can start to move forward with a much greater appreciation of the time and experiences we had with our loved one.

Getting through the grieving process is often a product of the support we receive along the way. This support can come from the grief resources provided by the funeral home, or our families, or our social network. And with these sources of support, many of us discover that, in time, we can process our loss and get through the roughest patches in the grieving process.

However, for some people, these sources of grief support may not be enough. For these people, grief is consuming and overwhelming to the point that they are debilitated by it and can barely function, much less see any kind of path forward in life.

Psychologists call this type of grief “complicated grief.” Complicated grief is an extremely protracted and all-consuming type of grief that literally stops our life in its tracks. If you believe that you are experiencing complicated grief, you should seek additional support from a professional therapist who is qualified to help you move past this intractable kind of grief.

Some of the signs of complicated grief include relentless sadness, profound and unshakeable depression, feelings of hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. Other signs of complicated grief are withdrawal from social activities, difficulty sleeping, difficulty eating, and obsessive thinking about your loved one who has died.

When you’re experiencing such deep emotional and mental pain, you may believe that it is impossible to relief. However, by seeking professional grief support, you have access to a lifeline that can help you resolve the pain and move forward with your life.

For more information about grief support and other cremation services in Clinton Township, MI, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral is here to assist you.