immediate effects of bereavement

Last reviewed 01/2018

Two symptoms are common immediately following a bereavement:

• numbness:
• experienced immediately after the death of a close relative or friend, and before the onset of acute grief
• intellectually, there is acceptance of what has happened, but there is no feeling, perhaps with awareness of the incongruity of the response
• numbness lasts only hours or days, but it is not generally regarded as abnormal unless it persists beyond two weeks
• during this period the person carries out the necessary practical tasks appropriately but feels cut off and unreal, as if everything is done in a dream

• disbelief:
• is a common reaction in the first few hours or days, when the newly bereaved may say "I just can't believe it " and may recognise themselves that the truth has not yet 'sunk in'
• it has a protective function, allowing the person to assimilate over a period of time the full implications of what has happened
• it may take months to accept the finality of death

The process of grieving begins when the bereaved person begins to feel and know that the loss has occurred.