Using the web to find support after losing a loved one

By admin / June 16, 2007
By: Linda Torrey
Category: Grief

When you lose a loved one, the best thing you can do is, seek out others who can empathize with your grief. Why is it that we don't always easily move through the healing of grief? Many experts call this complicated grief or feeling, we just can't move on. The symptoms and consequences of complicated grief can be distant and at times destructive. So it's important to look at our grief, and examine whether or not there might be some issues in need of attention and help. Typically, people discuss their grief reaction with someone they know or do not discuss it at all. Current technology now enables people to cope with grief through participation in on-line support groups from the comfort and privacy of their home. We are most disillusioned from loss when we have not yet learned how to help ourselves, what it is we received from someone who is now gone.

Online support groups for loss, assist members in facing the void left by the loss of a loved one and help to reduce members' feelings of isolation. People in an early phase of grief can share their reactions with others in the group while others in a later phase can offer support and problem solving. Facing holidays and special occasions are considered difficult for most members. Likewise, those who are terminally ill and/or their loved ones face similar anxieties, if they anticipate that approaching holidays and special occasions may be the last ones they celebrate together. The true beauty of the web is its vast resources, and it could be the perfect place to get the comfort you need right away and can help you make it through these troubled times. You can maintain and share through a memorial website, which will be the focal point of a community that keeps your loved one's memory alive. It lets you cherish your loved one and share the memories forever. They offer varied features, which enable you to create a memorial that reflects your loved one's life and is tailored to the needs of family and friends.

* Tell your loved one's life story, express your thoughts on their passing away, and place of a memorial service or event.

* Describe your loved one's legacy. Share poems, stories or articles they wrote.

* Create a time line highlighting important events in the departed's life, such as graduation, marriage, and achievements etc.

* Light a candle on the anniversary of your loved one's passing, or on their birthday.

* Allow visitors to express their feelings, pay tribute to the departed, and offer condolences to the family. * Publish audio and video clips featuring your loved one.

* Have a mailing list of friends and family who would like to be notified.

Online support groups reduce their sense of isolation and loneliness, a predominant reaction for most people in the midst of the grief process or for those who do not seek a face-to-face support group or support person. Specialized online support groups can be formed more successfully than traditional support groups that are limited by geographic boundaries. Universality unites people as they share similar thoughts, feelings, fears or reactions with their cyber community. They realize that grief is natural, feel bonded, and heal as they complete the grief process.





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