Miscarriage Grief
- lesliecochrane99
- Mar 26, 2023
- 2 min read
Women and men are suffering with grief following a miscarriage
Did You Know by Leslie Cochrane, LPC at CochraneCounseling.com
Most people think of Grief Counseling for the loss of a parent, spouse, or child. They may not make the connection that an unborn child, no matter how short the life, is still the loss of a child. You had already started making plans for the moment you would bring your child home all the way through college. It is just something we do as parents. The sudden loss of those dreams can cause you to begin experiencing grief.
You might experience symptoms that are relatively mild such as fatigue, loss of sleep, difficulty concentrating, or loss of appetite. These symptoms are normally handled with supportive counseling. In other cases the symptoms can be much more severe. Relationships with your partner, family, or friends can deteriorate. You may experience unexpected bursts of crying or inability to work. And when grief is most intense, you may begin self-harming or have suicidal thoughts. These symptoms require professional intervention and may require more time to resolve.
Men and women grieve differently. You need to be aware of that and be respectful of how each seeks comfort. In general there are three basic types of counseling approaches, but everyone is an individual and may require different therapies. All counseling will start with giving the client a safe space to talk about the lost child and lost dreams. During that process many emotions will come up and guilt may be one of those. The counselor will help the client to process those emotions and return to a healthy balance. If the client is having trauma symptoms, this is separate from the grief. Maybe they have an image in their mind that they can not get rid of or flashbacks to the moment they were told their child had died. This trauma has to be resolved before the grief can be processed.
