Grief is a natural response to loss. It is the emotional suffering one feels when something or someone the individual loves is taken away. The grief associated with death is familiar to most people, but individuals grieve in connection with a variety of losses throughout their lives, such as unemployment, ill health or the end of a relationship. Grief is associated with feelings of sadness, yearning, guilt , regret, and anger Some people may experience a sense of meaninglessness, and others can feel a sense of relief.
The Process of Recovering from Grief:
Everyone grieves in their own way and in their own time. Some people recover from grief and resume normal activities within six months, though they continue to feel moments of sadness. Others may feel better after about a year, and sometimes people continue to grieve for years without seeming to improve or find relief even temporarily. Grief can be complicated by other conditions, most notably depression, or by the person’s level of dependency on the departed.
I have found in my practice that homeopathy can help those who grieve and then get stuck in an unyielding depressive state. Here are just a few of the remedies most often called for in these situations:
Ignatia
There is perhaps no homeopathic remedy more often indicated in a case of acute, recent grief than Ignatia. At times referred to as the “sighing remedy”, people needing this remedy tend to be markedly sad and disposed to silent grieving. They may cry a great deal, great big sobs, even – and are often found sighing with marked regularity. These patients typically prefer to grieve alone and also tend to be quite moody. Ignatia patients may have contradictory symptoms (ie, a sore throat which feels better from swallowing food).
Natrum muriaticum
This homeopathic remedy places a close second to Ignatia for the number of times it is called on for those struggling with grief. Those needing this remedy are often quite melancholy and weep often, like a Pulsatilla patient, – but unlike those requiring Pulsatilla, Natrum muriaticum patients generally avoid consolation of any kind. Attempts at consolation are often rejected with anger or embarrassment. People needing this remedy often feel worse from 10-11:00AM and have a great aversion to the heat of the sun. They often have a strong craving for salty food.
Phosphoric acid
This homeopathic remedy is called for less frequently for grief – but still has its place. People needing this remedy tend to suffer more the chronic effects of grief and look haggard and gray… the grief seems to be more deeply rooted than in cases calling for the remedy Ignatia. The patient often feels very drowsy and might also be described as profoundly indifferent. They crave juicy and refreshing things, especially fruit.
Pulsatilla
One might think of this homeopathic remedy in cases where the patient is inclined to silent grief with much weeping. The person needing this remedy is typically mild, gentle, and yielding – and someone who weeps very easily. They can’t talk about their problems without weeping. Unlike Natrum muriaticum patients, Pulsatilla patients like to be consoled. In general – a Pulsatilla patient tends to be warm blooded, dislikes a warm room – feeling better in cool open air, has physical symptoms that seem to shift about, and is thirstless.