By sharing the feelings of isolation it is already not an isolating experience. It immediately takes us to sadness, together, within ourselves and with each other. Sad together the isolation is broken and intimacy occurs. The sadness must be dealt with by touching it and expressing it. Embracing it within allows us to be embraced first by ourselves and then by others.
Shared sadness is intimate and soothing.
We can be emotionally and often physically held as we share our sadness. Certainly not isolating and certainly a deeply intimate experience. Once again, the paradox. The heavy toll of brain damage yields, or can yield, a treasured gift of intimacy. We can be grateful even as we are grieving.