Some may remain stuck in any one of the six, or progress rapidly through all. Because no two people are alike, each of us has different ways of expressing our feelings, different ways of acting out our pain, but overall, we follow the same. By having an understanding of the process involved in grief, loss and change, and having information about the resources available to us, we can make informed choices, assist our families and friends in making better choices and improve the quality of our lives. Shock, denial and the need to be alone are normal, biological, systemic reactions to trauma and pain None of us who have experienced life with someone who has this disorder can say we have not been traumatized and hurt. Those with this disorder seem to have an innate ability to find all our vulnerabilities and use them to hurt and wound us.
Denial is a means to refuse to accept the reality of the traumatic event, illness or death.
Denial becomes a buffer, a breathing space, to accept the alteration to our personal reality that the loss creates for us. Anger is a feeling. All our feelings and emotions are given to us by our Creator. In and of themselves, they are not good or bad. They just are.