Treatment for complicated grief is different for each person, as each loss is unique. You may begin treatment by learning about reactions to complicated grief and treatment methods. Some goals of complicated grief treatment may include identifying one’s feelings and processing or resolving them and finding healthy ways to cope. You’ll also spend time talking about the most troubling aspects of the loss to reduce distress. Giving and receiving support from others who are healing from complicated grief is another important part of treatment. Before your time in treatment is through, you should reconnect with hobbies or relationships that brought you joy before the loss. Then you can start to reimagine your identity and life goals to move toward.

If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis or having thoughts of ending your life, call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or check out other SAMHSA crisis resources.

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through an example of what complicated grief treatment might look like, discuss important aspects of treatment and describe our approach to complicated grief treatment at Lightfully.

An example: Jane’s journey through complicated grief treatment

Jane lost her older sister, who was only 32 years old, after a yearlong battle with breast cancer. She had spent much of the previous year at her sister’s house caring for her and going with her to chemotherapy appointments. Jane wasn’t able to talk about her sister’s death because she still woke up every day wanting to call her and check on her, halfway thinking that she was still alive. When her friends expressed their concern, Jane agreed to begin treatment. 

For much of her first week in treatment, Jane sat and listened during group sessions. She mechanically told her therapist the simple facts of her sister’s death. When she tried to think about her own feelings, it was like there was nothing there. She would just numb out, or her brain would jump to thinking about something else. As Jane got used to the daily routines and listened to others process what they were going through, she started to feel a sense of panic and rage. During one-on-one psychotherapy sessions, her therapist helped her start to explore this feeling and understand it. She remembered sitting in a doctor’s office with her family when they received the news that her sister only had days left. She was upset with the doctors and with herself for not having certain conversations with her sister before this point. 

During her toughest sessions, Jane started to practice the new coping skills she was learning about. She squeezed a stress ball and breathed through pursed lips. She started to pull out her journal during breaks and pour out everything she was thinking and feeling. She suddenly had a lot more to say during groups, and the other clients chimed in to tell her they had felt similar things. Jane felt like she was finally able to see what had happened and what she was feeling in broken pieces. Her treatments were helping her put them together into a story that made sense. After sitting with it for some time, she started to think about ways to memorialize her sister in her life and picked up an art project that she had abandoned months ago. This helped her reconnect with herself, and she was able to start seeing friends here and there.

The benefits of personalized treatment for complicated grief

Jane’s treatment experience was fairly seamless because of our Precision Care Model (PCM) that we use to tailor each client’s treatment plan to their symptoms and their life. After an initial assessment, she met with her treatment team, who talked through different types of treatment and gave her some options. She received multiple different types of individual and group treatment that helped her get in touch with her emotions and start to process them. She also had weekly family therapy sessions when her parents came to learn about healthy ways to communicate and process this time of great change together. 

Jane spent about eight weeks in our Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), which includes five full days of treatment per week. Then she transitioned to our Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) as she was able to start returning to her usual activities. Our IOP includes fewer days and sessions of three to six hours each. Finally, she spent a few weeks in our Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program (vIOP) so she could receive treatment after returning to work. 

Our PCM offers the following benefits to clients seeking treatment for complicated grief:

• Working directly with your treatment team to make care decisions you feel good about
• Maintaining a close relationship with a primary psychotherapist
• Addressing the most distressing aspects of your grief in a safe environment
• Receiving the most effective evidence-based treatments according to your needs and your progress
• Building up core life processes and healthy coping skills to manage thoughts, emotions, behaviors and relationships
• Connecting with others who understand during group treatments
• Giving and receiving support to feel like a valued member of a community
• Working with a psychiatrist for medication management as needed
• Flexible treatment options to work around your schedule 

Explore your options for complicated grief treatment at Lightfully

Your experience of grief may be very different from other people in your life who are also coping with loss. If feelings of numbness, anger, disbelief, sadness, fear and other emotions persist or if they get worse over time, there are treatments that can help. Support from your friends and family will be important during this process, but it’s no substitute for clinical mental health treatment. 

At Lightfully, we designed our treatment environments and our programs to create a tranquil, comfortable atmosphere where you can feel safe exploring your innermost feelings. You’re welcome to come exactly as you are and use your time with us to reconnect with your authentic self. 

Are you experiencing complicated grief? Contact us to talk about scheduling an assessment or reach out to our Admissions Concierge Team today. We look forward to helping you step into your next phase of life.