Sometimes even positive life changes can result in the feelings of loss, problems can arise when these associated feelings and thoughts are not worked through, preventing the necessary grieving process.  Grief is a normal and natural response to loss and can be experienced with life changes in family patterns or behaviour or with the loss of loved ones.  Grief is a natural process of learning to adjust and adapt, examples of situations when it may occur are:

• Children moving away or starting school
• Marriage
• Divorce
• Addictions
• Retirement
• Death of loved one

As a guide there are 5 stages to grief; denial, anger, bargaining, despair and acceptance - these stages vary in there significance and in their occurrence, with the exception of acceptance.  There are a number of reasons why people may not be able to deal with their loss and feel complete again and often attempt to 'bury' their feelings. 

As with all life problems there are a few common misconceptions which are worth considering and definitely worth disregarding:

1. Put off dealing with thoughts or things until they are less painful.
2. Reflect on and regret the past (what i should have done/been).
3. Believe that time alone - will make everything whole again.
4. Grieve alone - keep all thoughts and feelings to yourself.