What to Do if Your Elderly Loved One is Grieving
It is natural for an elderly loved one to grieve when they lose a spouse, friend, or another loved one.
However, some grieving takes place over the course of many years, and this can be difficult for both the person who has died as well as those who are still living. Today we will explore how to help your elderly loved one through their grief so that everyone can heal and move on with their lives.
Understand the Different Stages of Grief
One of the most important things you can do as a caregiver is to understand what your loved one is going through. There are actually five stages of grief and each person will go through them at their own pace.
Denial and Isolation — Your loved one may deny that anything has changed or that a loss has happened.
Anger — It’s normal to feel angry or even guilty over a loss. Your loved one may see the loss as unfair and get upset over seemingly little things.
Bargaining — Seeking to change the circumstances is another stage of grief. It is an attempt to regain control of the situation they are being faced with.
Depression — In this stage, your loved one is feeling the full weight of their sadness over the loss. Feeling depression in grief is normal, but be sure you’re able to distinguish between depression with grief and clinical depression.
Acceptance — Eventually, your grieving loved one will come to terms with their loss. This doesn’t mean they are no longer grieving. Grief can last a lifetime and show up in waves. But your loved one will be able to move on with their life again.
Understanding these phases will better help you deal with your loved one's grief over time.
Be Patient
It is not uncommon for those who are grieving to lash out at others, especially the ones closest to them. This can be a very hard time in an elderly loved one's life and they may say things that hurt you without even realizing it.
That being said, if your loved one does say something insulting or offensive about you or another family member, try not to take offense right away. They may have been hurting from their own grief when they said these things and had no intention of actually saying anything bad to anyone. If this happens, try to simply let it go as soon as possible so that everyone can move on with healing more quickly than before.
Give Them Their Space
If you have an elderly loved one who is grieving, it can be very difficult to know what to say or do for them. For the most part, just being there as a friend and listening when your loved one needs someone will mean more than anything else that you could possibly do for them at this time in their life.
Sometimes they might want some space from others so that they can get through their grief without having to deal with other people's feelings on the matter. As long as they are not feeling unsafe alone, then giving them space may actually help bring your relationship closer together later down the road after everything has settled again.
Understand There is Know Such Thing as Normal Grief
Many of us have heard the phrase "there is no such thing as normal grief." This is very true for those who are dealing with their own loss or that of an elderly loved one. There will never be a time when someone's grief feels like it has gone on too long, and if your loved one wants to talk about how they feel then you should let them talk without interrupting every few minutes. Everyone handles grief in their own way.
If you believe that it's time to consider Vancouver senior living options for your loved one, then we'd love to speak with you. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.