Happiness

Happiness is silent, or speaks equivocally for friends,
Grief is explicit and her song never ends,
Happiness is like England, and will not state a case,
Grief, like Guilt, rushes in and talks apace.

Stevie Smith

This short poem by Stevie Smith talks powerfully about the experience of loss and bereavement. Undoubtedly, bereavement has a web of emotions from the sense of sadness, to the feeling of being overwhelmed and confused, all of which are hard to express, as well as the feeling of isolation even though you have people around you. Sometimes these emotions can erupt in anger and the sensation that nobody is listening to you, even when you have the love and support people who care for you. Grief in the process of loss can often develop into an all-consuming sense of depression and the feeling of losing oneself. This is where bereavement counselling can help.

Burying your feelings in a wall of denial, putting up defences, from people who care may work in the short-term but in the long term, it won’t help. Someone who is bereaved will often make statements such as “I’m okay” when really there crumbling and falling to bits’ inside.