Grief Rehab

Overcoming Complicated Grief Through Treatment

If you lose a person close to you, you might find yourself tumbling into despair. While this is normal to experience at first and may closely mirror depression, some people have a harder time bouncing back from a major loss. Grief rehab may be the solution that you need to start functioning at home, at work, and in the community again.

Emerald Isle Health & Recovery presents a great option for those who want to heal in the sunny environment of Arizona. We offer a private treatment center with multiple levels of care to meet the needs of each one of our clients. Whether you need help with bereavement or substance abuse, we can help you to develop coping skills and get back to your daily life.

Keep reading to get details about how you can overcome complicated grief through treatment, and how our programs at Emerald Isle can help!

What is Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder?

If you lose a loved one, it will take some time for you to adjust to that loss in your life. You may move through the five stages of grief and loss, or you may remain stuck in some phase of your mourning. Many people experience common emotions like shock, anger, sadness, or a desperate desire to be near the person again. It can take quite a bit of time for you to move through these emotions and into acceptance.

The amount of time that it takes to reach this final stage of the process varies based on the individual. However, there are times when this grieving process does not follow the normal and accepted patterns of healing. If you continue to experience painful feelings well after the initial loss of family members, friends, and other loved ones, then you may need treatment for your mental health condition.

This is known as persistent complex bereavement disorder, though it was formerly known as complicated grief disorder.

What are the Symptoms of Complicated Grief?

You might need to seek the help of a treatment center for your grief and loss if you find that the symptoms of your grief do not improve as time passes. Places like Emerald Isle Health & Recovery can help you to find what you need.

Identify whether any of these symptoms describe your current state of mind:

• Indefinite desire to see the deceased person again
• Preoccupation with the death of a loved one or a desire to join them
• Distress or depression (mood disorders) that do not improve
• Isolation from loved ones and a pervasive sense of loneliness
• Decreased interest in activities you once loved
• Feelings of emptiness

You might feel any or all of these symptoms immediately following a loss. However, if they continue for an extended period, it might be time to seek treatment. When these symptoms begin to impair your social activities or work life, then you will know that it is time to find another solution to your healing process.

Do not fear though. If you experience this type of complicated grief, you are in good company. Roughly 7 percent of people who lose a loved one find that such a loss leaves them faltering and falling into the category of complicated grief.

How Long Does the Grieving Process Last?

Of course, it is easy to see that complicated grief can be challenging to diagnose because it is highly subjective. With that being said, there are some guidelines put in place to determine when a person should consider seeking help for their mental health. It is required for a diagnosis of complicated grief, the death must have occurred at least six months prior.

This gives you some time to work through the initial feelings of losing someone close to you, whether they were friends or family members. The symptoms above are common to everyone who loses someone, at least in the beginning.

Symptoms should last for at least one month and impair your ability to function.

If you find that you do not have these symptoms, it does not necessarily mean that you should not seek treatment. Grief is a tricky thing and almost everyone can benefit from some therapy when they lose someone they were close to. It can be a great step forward in the healing process to have a safe space to remember them and learn good coping skills.

Dual Diagnoses with Substance Use Disorder

Many people will have a hard time coping once grieving begins. If they do not have a treasure trove of coping skills to dive into, it is quite common to find that they fall into alcohol or drug abuse to take the edge off their pain. While it may numb the emotions temporarily, they will still be there once you sober up.

This often segues into the person deciding to use drugs or alcohol again to keep the cycle going instead of uncovering healthy ways of coping. People struggling with grief and loss might need to consider seeking alcohol rehab or drug rehab to minimize their symptoms.

At Emerald Isle Health & Recovery, we offer several treatment options for those coping with a substance use disorder or just drug and alcohol use in general. Whether you opt for an inpatient rehab experience or one of our outpatient services, our mental health providers will guide you in selecting healthy ways of dealing with your grief instead of substance use.

In turn, this will help you move forward from your complicated grief.

Coping with a Traumatic Event

Unfortunately, some people are haunted by the events that surround their loved one’s death. They might have difficulty concentrating on anything apart from the moment that they found their loved one or witnessed their accident. Sometimes, a loss like this can trigger a mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This can be treated along with your complicated grief through the work done at a grief rehab. At Emerald Isle, we take excellent care of our clients and put them through behavioral therapy to minimize the role that these flashbacks and intrusive thoughts may play in a client’s healing.

Depending on the severity and the toll it has taken on your mental health, you might need to book some time away in a treatment center like ours. We can provide you with a safe space to process your feelings and emotions. Therapy can sometimes dredge up painful memories, and it puts many people at ease to know they are in a safe environment.

Plus, you can focus entirely on your mental health if you opt for inpatient treatment. You can focus on the exercises you learn in family therapy and individual behavioral therapy as you learn to cope with life after the loss of a loved one.

Choosing a Quality Grief Rehab Treatment Center

If you have experienced a lost loved one, then it may be time to put in place some more adaptive ways of coping and to get a little more support. Oftentimes, friends and family members are dealing with their own wave of grief and may not be able to help you carry the tsunami of your bereavement. Emerald Isle can help you to get the support you need, when you need it most.

Our facility is state of the art and is selected for its complete privacy for our clients. The lives of our patients matter to us and we know how hard it can be to admit that you need help for a loss. Given the private setting and location, no one has to know that you are seeking help for a complex diagnosis like pain over a bereavement.

Instead, you can tell friends and family members that you are getting away for a little while to soak up some Arizona sunshine. You may even come back with a tan to prove that you spent some time in the great outdoors during your treatment.

What if Inpatient Isn’t Right for You?

The good news is that you have more than one treatment option to cope with the pain of a loss. At Emerald Isle, our goal is to support you the exact way that you need us to, and sometimes that means that you may not require an inpatient stay. While this can be helpful to immerse you in your treatment, some people cannot take the time off work or away from their familial responsibilities.

If this describes you, then you might benefit from one of our less restrictive settings: partial hospitalization (PHP) or outpatient treatment.

Partial Hospitalization for Additional Support

Our PHP program is quite popular for those who need additional support grieving the loss of a loved one. We can help you to cope with the pain of loss in a highly structured environment, but you will still get to return to your own bed and family when the day is done.

Oftentimes, this is the program we recommend to those stepping down from inpatient back to their everyday lives. However, some people find that this level of support is all they need to cope with the loss of a close friend or family member. It requires a more intense level of care.

Outpatient Treatment for More Flexibility

Perhaps you could use a custom treatment plan to get the services that you need. Emerald Isle Health & Recovery is great for giving you access to the treatment you need to cope with a death in your inner circle. Our skilled clinicians will meet with you for an assessment and help determine the next right steps forward for you.

We may place you in group therapy or individual therapy with a certain number of hours of treatment that you will receive each week. All of our programs are highly structured and allow you to get the support that you desperately need to conquer your bereavement and get back to your life and responsibilities.

One aspect of outpatient treatment that you may want to consider is family therapy. This allows you to process your healing with your loved ones by your side and may help to support them in their endeavor to help you overcome this painful loss as well.

The benefit of our outpatient therapy program is that you can come and go as you please, as long as you are showing up for your appointments. With PHP, you will be required to stay in the facility all day, attending sessions with our skilled staff. This reduces the degree of flexibility that you may have with your treatment.

Support Groups to Feel Less Isolated

One of the main symptoms of complicated grief is that you feel overwhelmingly alone and isolated. This is compounded when many people start to withdraw from their friends and family, consumed by their grief. Emerald Isle offers support groups as part of a flexible treatment plan so that you can learn that you are not alone in how you feel.

In turn, this can help you to feel more connected which eases some of the primary symptoms of your experience of complicated grief. We can recommend a local group that meets at our facility for you to add to your treatment plan, giving you flexibility and the peer support that many people require in order to thrive in the aftermath of a serious or traumatic loss.

Reach Out for Help from Our Grief Rehab Programs

For people struggling with death and grief, there are a number of treatment options that you might pursue to put you on the path to healing. Grief is rarely a linear process, but it affects some people differently and gives them a difficult time moving forward with the rest of their life. Whether you are dealing with anxiety, anger, or depression over a lost relationship, Emerald Isle Health & Recovery is here to help.

We offer flexible treatment plans in a supportive environment to help all of our clients, even if they have co-occurring addiction issues, drug or alcohol use, or mental health concerns. No matter what level of treatment you seek, give us a call today to learn more about how we can help you cope with your life after being struck by grief.

All calls are completely confidential and discreet, and we proudly accept many AHCCCS policies along with most major insurance carriers. Please reach out now for help and support!