Click on the Title of an article to download a PDF that you can print. The Colors of Grief April 2019 Enough Is Enough! Not Another Loss! March 2019 What’s Happening? Am I Going Crazy? February 2019 Can We Talk? January 2019 Please Don’t Take Away My Grief December 2018 The Empty Chair: Grief and the Holidays December 2018 I Recognize Your…
Grief Support Groups Serving West Los Angeles, Encino and Agoura Hills
Grief Support Groups Serving West Los Angeles, Encino and Agoura Hills
Education
Diane Dalbey, PhD. is a BodyMind Therapist, specializing in pain and trauma. She studied medical QiGong in Los Angeles and at the International Medical QiGong Institute in Beijing. She teaches QiGong and often uses Medical QiGong in her private practice, as a partner to many other therapies. You can visit her website at DrDianeDalbey.com. Diane is also an advocate of healing through…
When you suffer the death of a loved one, you are thrown into a state of emergency in your body, mind and soul.
Brain imaging studies have shown that when an individual experiences a significant loss, changes occur along a broad network of neurons. The ancient survival mechanism of the fight or flight response is automatically triggered in your brain chemistry. Even if not consciously aware, at a deep level we fear for our survival. There is incredible amount of tension held in the body that is stressful and takes a huge toll emotionally, mentally and physically. Grievers often
When your loved one dies, it may literally feel like it takes your breath away. You begin an odyssey that you don’t how know to navigate.
Shock and numbness prepare you for the journey as you plummet into a swirling dense fog of despair, an unfamiliar reality. The life you shared is no more. This is a forever loss and so begins… the eclipse into darkness.
In grief, individuals often have a feeling of generalized fear and being unable to control the body symptoms that go along with feelings of anxiety and panic. If we look at Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs Theory,” we see some of the basis for this anxiety.
It becomes apparent that when we experience the death of a loved one, we are thrown to the bottom two levels of the pyramid. We are confronted with the fear that we may no longer feel safe and may not be able to take care of ourselves and our basic needs.
One’s personal world has changed forever. When we are grieving the death of a loved one we feel stripped of the resources that, in the past, have been there to support us through stressful times.
- “Do I have enough money to support myself?
- “Will I be okay alone?”
- “How am I going to drive at night by myself?”
- “What if I get sick? Who will help me?”
Our loved one, a major part of our support system and someone we have depended on for such support, is no longer present for us.
What is grief? Grief is a journey. It is painful. It is difficult and challenging. It feels never-ending. It does have a natural rhythm that will occur and you will heal. Be gentle with yourself and trust your natural, innate process. What are resources? Your resources are all of the things that help you through the journey of grief: Work A grief…
If your spouse has died, your whole world has most likely been turned upside down… out of balance. Everything seemed to change in your life… especially you. Your belief system, physical routines such as sleep, energy and eating, emotional stability, relationships… even your environment has taken on a different meaning. That feeling of safety, comfort and familiarity about your life no longer seems to exist.
Grieving is a difficult journey, as you already know. In the process you and your life will change. Learning to re-create a sense of
There’s no place like “HOPE” for the Holidays.
The first time a loved one is absent for the holidays a griever may conclude that all of the progress and healing that has taken place has vanished.
Starting with Thanksgiving and through New Year’s are the days on which mourners are reminded of loss by the painful absence of their loved one. Feelings of longing and sadness are especially acute this time of year.
In our culture there is a strong expectation of a “Norman Rockwell” holiday with loved ones harmoniously gathered around the hearth. This expectation burdens many individuals, not just those who are mourning.
We are bombarded with