‘Claire, a single woman in her 20's, came to counselling with feelings of depression. Claire’s feelings were disabling her ability to carry on with life. She said that an ex-boyfriend who she had broken up with two years ago had recently died. Claire described feeling isolated and alone and believed that nobody understood her or her feelings. She could not understand why she was having daily mood swings.
Through talking to the counsellor, Claire discovered that this was the first death of a significant person she had experienced. The feelings of grief were new to her. Her ex-boyfriend’s death had resurrected feelings of closeness that they had shared and lost together with the loss of plans and dreams. Claire was able to recognize then that she was grieving the loss of many things that had been significant to her and not just the death of her old boyfriend.
The counsellor affirmed and supported Claire through the grief process. She was able to ventilate her feelings and recognise that they were appropriate for the crisis and grief she had endured. She no longer felt anxious that she was "cracking up". She identified that she had a supportive family and friends and a satisfying job, and that these facts afforded her a personal security and sense of well-being. Affirmed and purged, Claire rebalanced her feelings, thoughts, behaviours and sensations and ………
…….. reconnected with life.