Immediate effects of bereavement
Two symptoms are common immediately following a bereavement:
- numbness:
- experienced immediately after the death of a close relative or friend, and before the onset of acute grief
- intellectually, there is acceptance of what has happened, but there is no feeling, perhaps with awareness of the incongruity of the response
- numbness lasts only hours or days, but it is not generally regarded as abnormal unless it persists beyond two weeks
- during this period the person carries out the necessary practical tasks appropriately but feels cut off and unreal, as if everything is done in a dream
- disbelief:
- is a common reaction in the first few hours or days, when the newly bereaved may say "I just can't believe it " and may recognise themselves that the truth has not yet 'sunk in'
- it has a protective function, allowing the person to assimilate over a period of time the full implications of what has happened
- it may take months to accept the finality of death
The process of grieving begins when the bereaved person begins to feel and know that the loss has occurred.
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