Common reasons you may feel relief after a death: Therapist explains
From watching them suffer to being with an abusive person, here are a few common reasons why sometimes death brings the sense of relief.
Grief is a plethora of emotions. A death can bring a lot of emotions, especially at the loss of a loved one. While sadness is a natural feeling in any kind of death, sometimes it brings the sense of relief as well. It can happen due to various reasons. Addressing this, Psychotherapist Emily H Sanders wrote, “Often when people experience relief following the death of a loved one, they also tend to experience a lot of guilt for feeling relieved. However, grief often goes hand in hand with relief. Many tend to think of the grief that follows someone’s passing as sadness; while sadness is a big part, it is not all that grief is. Grief is full of many, many feelings- often making it complicated to work through.”
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Explaining further, Emily added, “Many people who experience relief after a loss do not want to admit to it- perhaps even feeling ashamed that they had the thought before the death that life would be easier if the person died.” She further noted down a few reasons why we may feel relief after a death:
Suffering: In case the person was suffering, it can get difficult to watch your loved one go through it. Hence, with their death comes the relief of no longer watching them go through the terrible journey of pain and suffering.
Caregiving: Caregiving a loved one for a long time can be very demanding. And sometimes, it carries the burden of losing out on life.
Addiction: In case the loved one was battling addiction and going through therapy, it may be a relief to finally stop worrying about it and the effects that it causes to the family.
Mental illness: When someone goes through mental illness, it is as much painful for the patient, as it is for the ones living with them. Hence, with their death, comes the relief of not letting them go through the suffering anymore.
Abusive: The death of an abusive person brings relief of finally being out of that sense of misery.
