In Grief: Using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

[Reviewed and updated September 2, 2025]

A reader writes: Thank you for being here for me these last 23 months. I am grateful for your support and advice. Reading your answers is always a relief. I feel stuck and hurt and as time goes by the feeling of loneliness becomes stronger as more and more I understand the meaning and importance of my other half. I feel like half a person without my beloved. He was my other half, my everything, the center and my reason for living. Trying to get some help and after trying different counseling, I went back to the one I'd started with, since I'd been with him the longest and I hoped maybe he understands my suffering. He suggested a new therapy called E M D R.

Caregiving and Hospice, February 28 - March 5, 2016

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

Those Working With End of Life Need Closure, http://j.mp/1RgNbJ2 « Hospice Times

Silver Screen Death and Grief, http://j.mp/24x2SFK « Crossroads Hospice Center

At Last! Your Death Acceptance Reading List, http://j.mp/1QdWuM4 « The Order of the Good Death

Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below.

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Understanding and Managing Grief, February 28 - March 5, 2016

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

Relationship Struggles May Coincide with Grieving, http://j.mp/1QqP2xl « Open to Hope

Balancing Selflessness and Self-Care in Grief, http://j.mp/1T5d98q « What's Your Grief?

11 Adult Coloring Books That Will Make You Feel Surprisingly Zen, http://j.mp/1QF2RoZ « The Huffington Post

Coping with Pet Loss, February 28 - March 5, 2016

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

Man turns grief over loss of his dog into healing message: 'He's a soul extension,' http://j.mp/1SlOBXE « TODAY

Pet Loss: The Pain of Relinquishment, http://j.mp/1KXUh8X « Grief Healing

Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below.

If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing Newsletter. Sign up here.

Pet Loss: The Pain of Relinquishment

[Reviewed and updated September 9, 2025]

Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it. ~ Ann Landers

A reader writes: I have had lots of animals all my life, raised English setters and had lots of cats and farm animals. I am in the process of selling our farm, my husband retiring and we will be moving to a different area. We realized that we could not take our pets with us.

Caregiving and Hospice, February 21 - February 27, 2016

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

Palliative and hospice care for children and families, http://j.mp/1QDWrGA « Ladybug House

Discharge planning: Being Superman, http://j.mp/1OhrH2V « GeriPal

Available: Volunteers to Help You Find Help, http://j.mp/1Q5bOdY « CareGiving.com

Understanding and Managing Grief, February 21 - February 27, 2016

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

You Do Not Have to Be Good, http://j.mp/1oGrcEu « HuffPost Power of Humanity

When is Grief Finished? http://j.mp/1OBnYHk « GriefMinisterdotcom

Take Your Grief Emotions Inventory! http://j.mp/24tr5Na « GriefMinisterdotcom

Voices of Experience: No One Told Me My Mother Had Died

by Barbara Donsky

For a child, the death of a loved one is a life-changing event that has been likened to an amputation. And like an amputation, there is no going back to what had been. Instead, there is the painful memory captured in a sweeping emptiness. 

In A Grief Observed, written after the death of his wife, Joy, to cancer, the British poet, essayist and philosopher C. S. Lewis wrote: “No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear.” For children, this gut-wrenching fear—What’s happening to me? —is often accompanied by loss of appetite, an inability to sleep, difficulties in concentrating and aimless searching. All are part and parcel of what bereavement experts call ‘the chaos of grief.’ If left untreated, unresolved grief in young children can result in lowered grades and in withdrawing from family and friends. In older youth, there can be more reckless behaviors including drug/alcohol abuse and promiscuity.

When my mother disappeared on a bright November day, no one told me she had died.

Caregiving and Hospice, February 14 - February 20, 2016

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

Music Therapy Works Better Than Relaxation Exercises In Improving Health Of Palliative Care Patients, http://j.mp/1HDbAuc « Medical Daily

Music for Dementia Patients, https://youtu.be/SdammRGKeZk « YouTube

No words..."The Life of Death," https://vimeo.com/154739710 « Vimeo

Understanding and Managing Grief, February 14 - February 20, 2016

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

Oh For Goodness Sake – Stand At My Grave and Weep Already!  http://j.mp/24eplHA « Full Voice— Barbara McAfee

Valentine Grief - Healing Through A Gift of Love, http://j.mp/1WpSwli « Journey Through Loss

In Grief: When Faith and God Don't Make Sense, http://j.mp/1PzkJEc « Grief Healing

Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below.

If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing Newsletter. Sign up here.