3 Signs You're Masking Grief
"Masked Grief
Though research is now clear that every individual will work through grief on their own timetable, and there is no “quick fix” to avoid the pain associated with grieving, it’s crucial to recognize instances when grief can be masked. In the short term, masking grief is a survival skill, albeit an unhealthy one, that allows a space to just focus on surviving and accomplishing the mundane, day-to-day drudgery that’s still required even after losing someone central to your life.
In the long run, masked grief is significantly detrimental. It keeps its victims in a kind of limbo between staying in the past and moving forward, and the emotional toll of that experience can be devastating— not to mention the physical suffering that often goes along with chronic grieving.
1. Your emotions are unpredictable and waver uncontrollably. This is common during the first aftershocks of loss, but, as time goes on, you should see some stabilization in your feelings. It should become less common to react to small situations with over-the-top emotions, and, eventually, you’ll recognize a wider range of feelings returning to your emotional repertoire.
Are bland situations triggering an overreaction? Do you feel like a ticking time bomb but unable to pinpoint why, exactly? If you’re months, or even years, out of an initial loss and still struggling to anticipate your emotional reactions to different situations, it could very well be a sign that grief is eating away at your insides, stealing your ability to reconstruct meaning in your life.
2. Your physical health is steadily declining. Grief has tremendous impacts, and not all are emotional or mental—physical changes are a common side effect as well. Gastrointestinal issues, sleep deprivation, and even anxiety attacks can all play a serious role in recovering from a significant loss.
Though the physical effects of grief are well established, they should start to resolve as you move forward to navigate a different life. If you find your health continuing to suffer down the road, with no known physical cause to pinpoint, it’s possible that grief is the culprit.
3. You have lost the ability to create new meaning. Grief turns your world upside down, whisks away everything that is known and familiar, and leaves behind an immense void. The pressure to fill that void starts shortly after the initial loss, after the shock starts to wear off and support systems go back to their own lives—when the person grieving is suddenly left to their own devices to find a way through the mess.
The depression that can accompany this time tends to rob you of joy, and the thought of creating a new, different life around the void of grief easily overwhelms. As life goes on, however, the steps toward creating meaning become less weighted down—but for those whose grief is masked, this phase can seem to drag on forever."
Read the full article on Psychology Today
✨Takeaway: There is no right or wrong way to manage grief. However, masked grief can be detrimental in the long run as it keeps individuals in a state of limbo and impairs functioning. It is important to be honest with oneself and identify masked grief to avoid long-term harm.
✨Reflection: What are some healthy ways to manage grief?
#Grief #Masking #Loss #MentalHealth
@innateJoy9602
Thank you so much for providing this info. I think nowadays we are not even aware of the ways in which constantly feeling grief and other negative emotions are affecting us - physically, mentally and socially. It spreads to all aspects of our life. Therefore this reminder and takeaway is highly helpful ❤️
@Sleepwalkermw
Appreciate you! Also, very well said. I completely agree.💜