The social tendency to avoid talking about death and to repress emotions such as Sadness can complicate the way people cope with loss.
The phenomenon was explained by the psychologist specialized in grief José González in an interview given to ‘Europa Press Infosalus’ on the occasion of the publication of his book ‘Sadness is cured’.
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According to González, from childhood many people are educated to stay away from the reality of death.
It is common to avoid talking about the subject with children and, in contexts such as funerals, The idea is conveyed that pain should be expressed in a contained and brief way.
The specialist maintained that grief is part of a universal experience and recalled that human beings are aware of their own mortality.
This process with a pendulum that oscillates between more difficult moments and more bearable ones. Photo:istock
In his opinion, emotions such as sadness serves a necessary function to process a lossalthough these days they are usually interpreted as something that should be avoided or corrected quickly.
In the interview, he explained that during grief two dynamics usually coexist. On the one hand, those activities, people or spaces that help maintain the link with life and hope.
On the other hand, the resources that allow us to connect with emotions such as sadness, rage, anger or guilt derived from the loss.
González compared this process to a pendulum that oscillates between more difficult moments and more bearable ones. According to him, this alternation is necessary so that the person can adapt to the new reality and prevent suffering from becoming stagnant.
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The importance of support
The psychologist also warned that, in some cases, the feeling of loneliness after a loss can be as painful or even more painful than the loss itself.
Among the so-called ‘secondary grief’, he mentioned the disappointment that can arise when certain people do not offer the expected support.as well as the unexpected appearance of help from those who were not expected.
Among the most frequent mistakes when accompanying someone in mourning, the tendency to try to stop or avoid emotional expression stood out.
Instead of changing the subject, he recommended encouraging conversations about the deceased person, their memories, anecdotes and aspects of their life, as a way to facilitate the elaboration of the loss.
According to him, in his clinical practice he usually suggests that patients write the titles of ten chapters of the life of the person they have lost, an activity aimed at reconstructing and remembering who they really were.
The specialist defended the need to face the reality of death instead of ignoring it. Photo:iStock
A process of honesty and acceptance
González defined mourning as a work of honesty, both with the memory of those who are no longer here and with oneself.
He explained that significant losses often change the way people perceive the world and can awaken feelings of vulnerability or injustice.
The specialist defended the need to face the reality of death instead of ignoring it. He stated that recognizing the finite nature of life can help to value more clearly what is considered important.
Likewise, he insisted that sadness must have space to manifest. As he explained, Constantly preventing or interrupting crying can make emotional recovery difficult.l, while allowing yourself to feel and express the pain usually generates a subsequent feeling of relief.
The psychologist also pointed out that numerous symptoms of anxiety or depression may be related to grieving processes that have not been adequately developed, because people have not found opportunities to recognize and process the loss.
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Finally, he remembered that grief is not limited to the death of a loved one. It may also appear after a breakup, loss of health, immigration changes, the end of a friendship, truncated projects or the death of a pet.
In this sense, he stressed that learning to deal with losses is part of the human experience from the first stages of life.
*This content was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on publicly known information disclosed to the media. In addition, it was reviewed by the journalist and an editor.
JOS GUERRERO
DIGITAL SCOPE EDITORIAL
