Carrying the topic, “Trails of Stories Behind the Consultation Room: Grief Counselling”, the Psychological Consultation Unit (UKP) again held the 12th UKP Synergy UKP Sharing (UBUB) on Friday (10/9). The topic was delivered by Dra. Sri Kusrohmaniah, M.Sc., PhD and Azri Agustin S.Psi., Psychologist and Wirdatul Anisa, M.Psi., Psychologist as moderators.
Appearing as a speaker in the first session, Kusrohmaniah said that grief does not always have to be about loss but can also be about extreme events or changes that occur. “Of course, the change in question is negative,” explained Kusrohmaniah. In addition, as an introduction, he also conveyed that human are creatures who tend to form bonds of love which are facilitated by the hormone oxytocin. When the bond of love is disturbed, then that is when grief occurs which makes the body burdened and must rearrange its condition.
Grief can be interpreted as a natural response possessed by humans, even animals, when experiencing the loss or death of someone or something important to them. When someone is experiencing grief, then at that time humans also experience various emotions, such as loneliness, disbelief, numbness, guilt, anxiety, despair, and even anger.
According to Kusrohmaniah, continuous grief will become a complex disorder if it is not handled quickly and appropriately. These complex disorders include, Post-Traumatic Disorder (PTSD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), complicated-bereavement, Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), and personality disorders.
Then, in the second session, Azri continued to deliver material, “Recovering from Grief is the title I took to open our presentation of the material and our discussion today”. According to Azri, the grieving process takes time to heal ourselves.
There are several stages of grief that a person goes through, the first is denial, where a person feels that the grief experienced should not have happened. Then, the anger stage which raises the question of why he should experience grief. Next, the bargaining stage that raises the desire to turn back time and the “if only” question. Then, the stage of depression which makes a person go deeper into a deeper level of sadness and great loss. Finally, the acceptance stage where a person begins to manage his condition and find the meaning of loss.
There are important things that need to be considered regarding the stages of grief, among others, that each stage does not take place in a linear manner. Some people can feel one stage then return to the previous stage. However, there are also those who pass through the stages of grief linearly in a short time.