Death happens. Although grief may happen in stages, these stages are not linear.
Grief is a response to lose. Most people will experience several losses in life. Loved ones die; careers come to an abrupt end; relationships break down. All these losses can compound together and sometimes overwhelm you.
Have you experienced that?
Grief is a normal, healthy process as you adjust to a life changed by the loss, but sometimes we need help and guidance.
Indeed, research has shown that three processes are essential to adapt to the loss of a loved one:
- Accepting the loss is real and permanent and dealing with the consequences of that
- Reconfiguring the way you relate to the person you’ve lost
- Discovering ways to move forward with a sense of purpose and meaning based on personal values.
Most people move forward naturally in this way. Of course, they never forget the person they loved, but they learn how to build a life around their grief, sometimes even experiencing personal growth.
Sometimes, though, grief becomes more complicated. People get stuck. Their suffering becomes all-encompassing, affecting their family, job, relationships and social life. They experience significant and intense difficulties with troubling thoughts, dysfunctional behaviours or problems regulating emotions. That happens over an extended period and prevents the normal process of adapting to grief.
Prolong Greif therapy (PGT) helps people identify and resolve the complex grief they’re experiencing to learn to grieve healthily.
Developed by the Columbia University Center for Prolonged Grief, CGT (now called PGT) is a short-term therapy that runs for 16 weekly sessions.
We’ll address the issues that complicate grief and find ways to strengthen your natural adaptive capacity during those sessions. You’ll get to know your grief, think about the death, revisit reminders of your loss and access your memories. You’ll also learn to manage strong emotions, think about the future and rebuild strong relationships.
Act Right Now Counselling Services offer PGT therapy to our clients in Australia that have been suffering from Prolonged Greif Disorder.
We offer an assessment for Prolong Greif Disorder for free (just book our 15-minute free video chat).