Mind -  

Disbelief:

• It can be hard to believe what has happened. For example, Taylor found after the death of her Nanna, thoughts like ‘I can’t believe it’s true’ were repeating over and over. 

• It’s normal for a loss to feel like it’s not real.

Concentration:

• Common to find that your mind wanders a lot after loss.

• Sometimes it is hard to concentrate or take information in when studying.

• Reduced concentration is a normal effect of having a lot on your mind but makes it hard to study or focus on other things.

Repetitive Thoughts and Images:

• Sometimes thoughts and images of the details or events that happened surrounding the loss can keep coming into your mind.

• Upsetting images can also happen in our dreams.

Feeling Bad about Yourself and Your Life:

• Young people can feel bad about themselves following a loss.

• They can also feel bad about their life in general.

• Sometimes young people self-blame and take on too much responsibility for a loss being their fault, which accompanies feelings of guilt.

• For example, Jamie thought ‘it’s my fault my parents divorced’ and Riley thought ‘I should have done something to stop the accident’.

 Meaning:

• Young people may feel what was important in life before the loss is no longer important, or the meaning of life is different after the loss.

Identity:

• Many young people find how they think about themselves changes.

• They may describe not knowing how to think about themselves or how to define who they are after loss.

 Control:

• Thoughts include ‘I have no control’, or the world is uncontrollable and bad things are going to happen when I don’t expect it.

 Attention - to thoughts, images and memories:

• It is common after loss to attend to thoughts, images, and memories about the loss.

• This can include spending a lot of time reflecting on memories, for example, of how life used to be.

Avoidance - of thoughts, images and memories:

• It is common after loss to push away thoughts, images, and memories.

• We often push away thoughts, images, and memories because it feels painful.

Now it’s your turn!

 What ways have grief and loss affected how you think?

Tip: Consider how you think about yourself, concentration, images or memories.

 It can sometimes be hard to be aware of our thoughts, images and memories.

Try starting with reflecting on how you feel about what has changed since the loss to become aware of what is going through your mind.