Grief and Anger

The duo of emotions that belong together

Anger and grief are two strong emotions that often accompany one another. All humans feel anger and grief, but survivors of childhood trauma seem to experience it throughout their adult lives. If left untreated, such strong emotions, if left unexpressed, endanger one’s health and relationships. Repressed anger is a hallmark of complex post-traumatic stress disorder and many other emotional problems.

In this article, we shall explore together grief and anger and how we must release and feel them before reaching acceptance.

What is Grief?

Grief is a strong emotion triggered by sadness over a loss, such as the death of someone you love or a lost childhood. Grief also accompanies receiving a diagnosis such as terminal cancer.

People experiencing grief may feel numb and removed from their daily life. They may feel overwhelmed and unable to carry on with their lives, such as doing their daily chores, and feel a deep sense of loss.

Grief is a universal yet personal experience and a natural reaction to loss. One cannot escape grief as sooner or later; you will have a death in your family that will send your mind reeling.

Grief follows a predictable course called the five stages of grief that, although listed linearly, do not always conform to that list as people move in and out of each stage.

The Stages of Grief

As we have discussed, there are five stages of grief, as identified by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. The stages are:

· Denial

· Anger

· Bargaining

· Depression

· Acceptance

Denial. Denial helps us to survive a loss we have experienced. During this stage, you are in a state of shock, and you may feel overwhelmed, and the world seems meaningless. You enter a state of shock and go numb. You also feel you have no sense of security and wonder how you can go on after experiencing or reliving loss. Denial is helpful in that it is nature’s way of allowing you to experience only as much as you can handle. During denial, you ask yourself questions and, in doing so, are unwittingly beginning the healing process.

Anger. Anger is not only the topic one of the topics of this piece but also a necessary stage in the healing process. It is…