Hospice Construction
Learn more about the construction of Wake County's first free standing Hospice home.
Learn MoreNormal Manifestations of Grief
NORMAL FEELINGS
- Overwhelming sadness
- Anger: at person who died, medical staff, religious establishment, other family members
- Guilt: anger at oneself
- Shock/Numbness
- Yearning
- Anxiety: ranging from slight sense of insecurity to panic
- Loneliness and sense of social isolation
- Helplessness/Lack of control
- Relief
- Resentment that “life goes on” for others
PHYSICAL SENSATIONS
- Feeling of emptiness in the stomach
- Lump in the throat
- Tightness in the chest
- Feeling of weakness
- Palpitations
- Shaking
- Dryness of the mouth
- Over-sensitivity to noise
- Breathlessness
COGNITIONS
- Disbelief
- Confusion and disorientation
- Forgetfulness
- Sense of presence
- Hallucinations: see, smell, or hear the person, particularly in familiar settings
- Need to retell the details of the loss again and again
- Dreams
BEHAVIORS
- Sleep disturbances: inability to sleep, early awakening
- Appetite disturbances
- Absent-minded behavior
- Searching and calling out
- Screaming
- Crying
- Restlessness
- Sighing
- Irritability, feeling “on edge”