On bereavement

Robert Peston spoke on Radio 4 yesterday morning about the grief and anger he felt when his wife died.

One of the sad aspects of the human condition is that the only way to avoid going through the enormous pain which the death of someone you love inflicts is either to die first, before everyone you love does, which usually means dying young, or never to really love anyone else, which is a far worse fate.

However, those who have not yet lost someone they were really close to rarely appreciate how difficult bereavement is to deal with, or how long it lasts. I agree with Robert Peston's comment on the radio that it isn't something you "get over" or which ever entirely heals, you just learn to deal with it - and that can take much longer than those who have not been through it or are experiencing it for the first time expect.

If anyone who is reading this has been recently bereaved and is having trouble coping with it, I would offer the suggestion that you may find it helpful to go and talk to a bereavement counsellor - there are some very good organisation offering this service and it can help just to talk to someone about it.

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