This is the treatment of grief from cognitive-behavioral therapy

Grief is one of the most studied psychological processes in the field of psychology for several decades; It is a natural phenomenon that affects practically everyone at some point in life and that is usually expressed with greater intensity when suffering the loss of a loved one, although it can also happen when losing something that we attach great importance to, such as emigrating to another country or finishing a degree university.

As it is an experience almost inherent to the fact of being alive, grief is not considered a psychopathology, although in some cases it may be. In cases like this we talk about complicated grief: an alteration in which the grief is not managed properly and becomes entrenched in the person's mind, damaging their mental health for months.

Fortunately, this problem can be treated in psychotherapy, and in this sense, the most effective form of intervention is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Let's see how it is applied when helping these types of patients, and what it is for.

• Related article: "The 10 benefits of going to psychological therapy"

What is the duel?

Contrary to what most people believe, grief does not only appear with the death of a loved one, but also It is a psychological process that can be triggered by any type of sudden or unexpected loss..

There are many types of grief that can be caused by a wide variety of events, situations or painful experiences, among the most common We can find: the loss of a loved one, a divorce, the loss of a job, the end of a friendship or traumatic experiences during the childhood.

This experience generates in the person feelings of pain, sadness, regret, anger and many other emotions that cause great pain and an internal struggle that must be faced to overcome the duel.

Overcoming grief is a cure and a great relief for those people who have been suffering, since it helps them to continue forward with their lives and leave behind all the pain, regret and discomfort that they were dragging for a long time.

The effective treatment of grief is essential for the person to continue with his life normally and without pain. Otherwise, a duel that has not been overcome can become chronic in the person and end up developing other serious mental health disorders such as depression.

Intervention in this type of case should be carried out by a professional psychologist. that knows how to adapt at all times to the needs and specificities of its clients. Within the psychologist's repertoire of resources, cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most valuable.

• You may be interested in: "Grief: coping with the loss of a loved one"

What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

There are many ways to deal with grief, since each person is different and may experience their process in a unique and specific way. For the treatment to be successful, the intervention must be adapted to the characteristics of the patient and the type of grief they are going through and use techniques of proven scientific evidence.

Sometimes it can be beneficial to apply more than one therapy in a coordinated way to treat cases of grief, however, in most cases the tool that offers the best results is cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most used in the field of psychology to treat all kinds of psychological disorders due to its great efficacy, its scientific basis, structure and rapidity in therapeutic results, managing to improve the quality of life of the person in little time.

In cases of grief, cognitive-behavioral therapy is highly effective because it is based on the identifying and modifying negative thought patterns that make the person who shelters them suffer, with which they put into practice self-sabotage behaviors that prevent them from coping with grief in a healthy way. Its main objective is to combine this intervention in the modification of cognitive processes, on the one hand, with the modification of objective behavioral processes, on the other. In this way, through this double path of intervention, the actions reinforce this change in the way of thinking, and vice versa.

With the help of a psychology professional, the patient will learn to face and overcome negative thoughts and maladaptive behaviors. derivatives, through the training of different techniques, which results in a relief of the symptoms that cause discomfort in your life daily.

Once the person has consciously trained the various techniques to modify maladaptive thoughts and behaviors, they are capable of modifying them for others. more constructive and adaptive, with which you can process grief from a more positive perspective and overcome pain, suffering and psychological discomfort. At the end of the process, the person will be able to accept that this loss has occurred, without positioning themselves before it from the start. avoidance of those thoughts, from anger at what happened, or from the constant longing and sadness for not living in the past.

During the psychological intervention, the therapist usually asks the client what he feels about the grieving process he is going through and what are her thoughts, This helps you identify them and begin to understand how negative thought patterns can affect your behavior and how it prevents you from overcoming it. duel.

• Related article: "Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: what is it and what principles is it based on?"

CBT techniques in bereavement intervention

Cognitive-behavioral therapy includes several effective techniques to help overcome grief processes, these are the most important.

1. cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring is the process of identify negative thought patterns that lead to behavioral practices that are not very adaptive to mourning.

Once these harmful ideas or thoughts are identified, the person trains various strategies based on with the therapist to modify them for more positive ones, which will help you overcome the duel in a short time time.

• You may be interested in: "Cognitive restructuring methods: what are they and how do they work?"

2. Identification of behaviors

The identification of behaviors consists of redirecting negative behaviors towards other behavioral patterns and more positive behavior for the client.

Carrying out other types of behaviors, the client will be able to successfully go through the different phases of grief and will finally be able to overcome it.

3. Development of new narratives

This technique allows the person to generate a new narrative about their loss., based on positive thoughts and ideas that allow you to overcome past pain.

Both the positive thoughts and emotions associated with the loss help to leave behind all the previous negativity and allow the person to interpret this new reality from a positive perspective and without pain.