I lost my younger brother to suicide less than 3 weeks ago, and have my first counseling session tonight. I'm finding that aside from all of the sadness, guilt, shame, regret and myriad of other emotions I've been experiencing since it happened, I'm also feeling a sort of bubbling up of a lot of the issues that I feel have been rooted in my family dynamic for years that I have just been stuffing down in what I now realize has been an effort to keep the peace. It just feels like so much to tackle all at once, and I am not sure where to start when it comes to therapy. I feel scared and overwhelmed and sort of hopeless. I understand that my counselor will hopefully help guide me through this process, but do you have any suggestions about where to start or what to focus on in the short-term?
Another issue I'm having is that other members of my family are already proving to be resistant to the idea of grief counseling, particularly my dad. He and my mom were with my brother while he actually died, and it's become pretty clear in the way that they seem to be coping that they must be suffering from PTSD, not least of all from what they saw (he used a gun). How can I help convince them that counseling is necessary? Do you recommend group therapy right away for something like this? Should my parents go to counseling together to start?
Again, thank you for reading. I look forward to tuning in to your podcast.
jgleespen52 karma
Hi, and thank you for doing this.
I lost my younger brother to suicide less than 3 weeks ago, and have my first counseling session tonight. I'm finding that aside from all of the sadness, guilt, shame, regret and myriad of other emotions I've been experiencing since it happened, I'm also feeling a sort of bubbling up of a lot of the issues that I feel have been rooted in my family dynamic for years that I have just been stuffing down in what I now realize has been an effort to keep the peace. It just feels like so much to tackle all at once, and I am not sure where to start when it comes to therapy. I feel scared and overwhelmed and sort of hopeless. I understand that my counselor will hopefully help guide me through this process, but do you have any suggestions about where to start or what to focus on in the short-term?
Another issue I'm having is that other members of my family are already proving to be resistant to the idea of grief counseling, particularly my dad. He and my mom were with my brother while he actually died, and it's become pretty clear in the way that they seem to be coping that they must be suffering from PTSD, not least of all from what they saw (he used a gun). How can I help convince them that counseling is necessary? Do you recommend group therapy right away for something like this? Should my parents go to counseling together to start?
Again, thank you for reading. I look forward to tuning in to your podcast.
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