Three Types Of Grief You May Not Have Heard Of

There are up to 16 types of grief. Today we are going to talk about 3 of those types of grief you may not have heard of. 

I can never say it enough, everyone grieves differently. I think back to the highly public case of Casey Anthony and the death of her young daughter Caylee. One of the main arguments the defense used was that everyone grieves differently and her “irresponsible” behavior was not worthy enough to determine her guilt. Whether or not she was truly guilty or not is not up to me to decide but it did open my thoughts to the possibility of a wider range of ways that grief can be expressed.

It is so easy to place judgement on people who grieve differently than we do. It is time to open our hearts and minds and give individuals the space to have their own experience and grieve in their own way. 

Today I am going to dig deeper into understanding three types of grief you may not have heard of. They are each unique in their own right but these three in particular have some similarities. 

Three Types of Grief you May Not Have Heard of

Inhibited grief

can manifest in the form of chronic headaches, stomach pains, or even muscle and body aches.

Inhibited grief can happen when you try to avoid or ignore your grief. If grief and loss isn’t processed and dealt with it will show up in other ways. If you find yourself getting headaches often and just feel achy and unwell and you are not sure why it is possible it is a result of inhibited grief. 

Absent grief

where you show few or no signs of grieving

This type of grief is when it doesn’t seem like you are grieving at all. Others may look at you and wonder what your true feelings are. When others are crying someone experiencing absent grief may have a straight face and no tears. 

Masked grief

when experienced you may not know that or even be aware that symptoms such as anger or impulsive behavior are related to a loss.

When you push your grief down and try to hide it this is masked grief. You may go home and grief pours out of you at night when you are alone but when you are out in the world you “act” as though everything is fine. It also may come out at random times as anger. Masking can be emotionally exhausting but can also manifest in physical ways just like the other forms of suppressed grief.

The more we understand different types of grief the easier it will be to identify the root of negative behaviors we keep getting caught up in. These three types of grief have a lot of similarities and some overlap. 

They all come from grief that is not dealt with. Grief can be inconvenient and confusing. It may seem to be “healed” and then pops up again. If you see yourself in any of these types of grief it may be a good time to face your grief, seek out additional grief support and keep the healing moving forward.