FACING LOSS
• Continue in Your Healing Journey: If it helps to continue to process the experience you went through, talk about your loss as well as the life of your loved one. If you belonged to a support group for PSP / CBD / MSA or for care partners, consider returning to the group once to share the news, to reminisce, to impart lessons learned and to thank everyone for what the support group meant for you. Now may be a good time to try a bereavement support group. Reflect on what brings you strength and hope, and consider journaling to capture your thoughts as you move through your healing journey.
Think about whether you would gain solace or meaning through volunteer work for CurePSP or another organization related to the disease or experience you went through, or some other way to give back in memory of your loved one.
Keep alive the good memories of your loved one— sit with special mementos, look through photographs and share stories. These are important ways through which their love, light and legacy live on through you and others who were touched and shaped by them.
Reach out for professional help from a psychotherapist or bereavement counselor to process your experience and emotions around life with a diagnosis of PSP, CBD or MSA; your caregiving role; and the death of your loved one. This advice is particularly important if intense grief persists for many months, results in depression or anxiety that is difficult to cope with and move past, interferes with day-to-day life and functioning, or causes you to be preoccupied with thoughts of death or a desire to die.
Reflect on and embrace the personal rewards of having been a care partner of someone with PSP, CBD or MSA: Did you learn patience or the ability to adapt to uncertain circumstances? Did you discover strengths and skills you didn’ t know you had? Did you experience a new level of closeness with your loved one? Did you define and discover gratitude and hope in new and different ways?
The Takeaway Message
Grief is normal, complex and individual. It is a journey that can have many phases and forms. Give yourself the time, space and support that are right for you as you remember your loved one and make sense of your experience. We hope this information and these suggestions provide you with directions, options and affirmations as you process your loss. Please know that CurePSP, as well as others in your life, care about you and are here to support you in this next chapter.
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