Pet Loss: Seeking Support From A Group

[Reviewed and updated December 2. 2025]

A reader writes: Based on your experience facilitating a Pet Loss Support Group, I'm hoping can you answer some questions for an article I am writing. For instance, how important is it for people who have lost a pet to seek help from a support group? What are some of the more common reasons they have for going to a pet loss support group? And how do they usually feel by the time they get to the support group?

Understanding and Managing Grief, April 17 - April 23, 2022

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Bioethicist Arthur Caplan discusses the tragedy of people dying alone, especially during COVID, and how we should change that. COVID-19: The Sadness of Dying Alone -- What Can We Do? « Medscape

Voices of Experience: Feeling Fate

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.  ~ Hamlet, The Tragedy of Hamlet (First Folio), Act 1, Scene 5

My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.  ~ J.B.S. Haldane, scientist

From nearly the start of her fairy-tale romance, Joni Sensel knew she would lose the man whose love changed her life. A dark premonition had warned her. Though she kept this secret in their short time together, upon his death she’s compelled to share it in a letter addressed to his spirit. By sharing the story of her premonition, Joni hopes to encourage others to reflect on their own numinous experiences, and to share them without shame or hesitation. The following excerpt comes from her book, Feeling Fate: A Memoir of Love, Intuition, and Spirit, and is reprinted here with her publisher’s permission.

Understanding and Managing Grief, April 10 - April 16, 2022

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

“Grief is neither a problem to be solved nor a problem to be overcome. It is a sacred expression of love – a sacred sorrow.”  Grief: Neither a problem to solve nor a problem to overcome « People's Defender 

Alan D. Wolfelt: My Position on the New “Prolonged Grief Disorder” Diagnostic Category in the DSM Grief Is Not a Disorder « Center for Loss & Life Transition

In Grief: Feeling Guilty for Feeling Bad

Don’t compare yourself to others. That’s a battle you can never win. ~ Michelle Parsons

As news about the atrocities in Ukraine continues to flood the airwaves, our hearts go out to the victims, survivors, refugees and others witnessing these horrific events, as well as to the people fighting for their homeland and struggling to survive in that war-torn country. As a nation we express our collective condolences, offer our heartfelt prayers, and work to contribute whatever we can to support them in their cause.

For those of us already struggling with grief, however, such catastrophic events unfortunately can give rise to feeling guilty for feeling bad. Our own individual loss may seem insignificant by comparison, as if we don’t have a legitimate right to mourn.

Understanding and Managing Grief & Pet Loss, April 3 - April 9, 2022

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Many families may feel overwhelmed and bombarded with support in the first couple weeks after a death. In the months to follow, they may feel abandoned and forgotten by their community even though their grief is still very fresh. Exton-Based Nonprofit Offers Tips on How to Support a Grieving Family « Vista.Today

In Grief: Is Anger One of The Stages?

[Reviewed and updated March 15, 2025]

But if she let go of her anger, all that would remain was grief and pain. Anger was easier. Anger could be focused outward. Grief corroded from within.  ~ Robin Hobb

Although anger is commonly identified as one of the so-called Stages of Grief, we now recognize that grief does not occur in easily defined stages, and anger is not always a part of everyone’s experience. Better to think of anger as a state (the circumstances or condition in which you may find yourself at any given time) rather than a stage (one of several sequential phases you may be in, as you work your way toward an end).

Understanding and Managing Grief, March 27 - April 2, 2022

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

You can't avoid sadness in grief, nor should you try. Allowing yourself to feel and honor your sadness is a way of loving the person you lost. The Nonnegotiable Sadness of Grief « Psychology Today 

If grief is the corollary to love, if grief is love, why set expectations on its pace or texture? Why pathologize love? Opinion: Grief Is Love, Not A Mental Disorder « The Washington Post

In Grief: Confronting One's Own Mortality

Death is a debt to nature due / Which I have paid, and so must you.  ~ Thomas Pynchon

A reader writes: I'm struggling to convince myself that what I'm going through is normal. My Grandma passed away at the end of November. Basically, I walked in to her palliative care room without being told she had already passed away (I expected to see her to say goodbye, tell her I loved her...) The shock of seeing her without being warned or prepared (the nurses said later they 'hoped to catch us' before we went into the room) and my sadness at the loss has had a really big effect on me. In retrospect I'm not sure I would have even gone into the room had I been given the choice. I've never seen a deceased person before - let alone a beloved relative. I've also never experienced the loss of someone close before. I have a really small family.

Understanding and Managing Grief & Pet Loss, March 20 - March 26, 2022

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Grief is usually associated with a loss due to death. There are other losses we grieve: loss of a marriage, relationship or friendship, a job, our health, a miscarriage, and loss of function due to aging. These are all extremely personal losses. Omnipresent Grief  « Couple's Net

Let me share with you what I know about grief from dealing with it in others and myself for over 50 years. The most important thing I know is that the measure of grief is the measure of love. The God Squad: How long should grief last? « New Haven Register