JAKARTA - Processing grief after losing a loved one is not easy. Everyone has different ways and times to accept the reality.
This process cannot be accelerated or standardized, so support from the surrounding environment is very important so that individuals do not feel alone.
Child, adolescent, and family psychologist Sani Budiantini Hermawan explained that in facing grief, a person needs to be helped to understand their own feelings.
"Processing grief towards ourselves because usually the more we understand ourselves, the better than if we don't understand ourselves so we also don't know how to process it and so on," he said, as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, April 30.
He added, in the process of grieving, a person can experience various emotions that appear alternately or simultaneously, such as longing, loss, sadness, to anger. In fact, in some cases, there are those who experience a delay effect, which is a condition when the feeling of grief only appears stronger after some time.
According to Sani, this condition needs to be watched out for because a person can look fine at first, but actually experience emotional stress later.
Therefore, he suggested that individuals who experience loss, especially suddenly, get assistance from professional personnel from the beginning.
"Of course, from the beginning when the person you love has died because of the accident, suddenly, for example, it is necessary to go to a psychologist to anticipate, understand how the grief process is effective for everyone because it is different," he explained.
In addition to professional assistance, support from the closest people also has a big role. Simple forms of empathy such as listening to stories, giving space to express sadness, to giving emotional touches such as hugs can help relieve psychological burdens.
"Empathizing is more about listening, telling stories about people who are given during life, we listen, give appreciation to, for example, the deceased turns out to be a great mother or an employee who is successful," he said.
Sani also reminded the importance of avoiding judgmental attitudes towards people who are grieving. Giving negative labels such as "excessive" can actually worsen their emotional state.
According to him, crying or showing sadness openly is a natural thing and part of the healing process.
"When everyone can express their feelings through crying, for example, it is natural and legitimate. It does not mean that he does not believe and so on. This is what I think people around him also need to support the grieving process so that it is more optimal," he concluded.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
