Emotions of Grief

People experience the pain of grief with a variety of emotional responses which include shock (“it can’t be true”), denial (“the tests were wrong”), anger (“why did she get AIDS and not someone else?”), guilt (“why did I smoke [or drink alcohol] during my pregnancy”), fear (“how will I manage to care for him?”), exhaustion, depression, confusion, and bargaining (“if only we could have a miracle”). These are just a few of the myriad of emotions people in grief experience. It is also important to understand that people experience these emotions in a roller-coaster fashion: sometimes feeling up and hopeful, other days feeling deeply depressed, other days coasting along and feeling virtually no emotion. All of these emotions are a normal part of the grief and mourning process.