Teenagers Responses to Grief
Children react to death in different ways depending on the age they are. Here are some ideas as to how they may be feeling and how you can tailor your behaviour to help them through this difficult time:
Teenagers
- Understands the concept of death
- May want reassurance and encouragement
- May feel isolated from friends as the think no-one understands how they feel
- May only want support from their friends rather than family
- May want to be part of the funeral even if it is just helping out
- May challenge the explanations of death offered by others
- May struggle to understand their place in the world
- May withdraw from the family unit
- May develop strong beliefs about death
- May feel a burden their parents when they are struggling themselves
- May hide their emotions through jokes
- Struggle asking for support and help as they want to show independence
- May become aggressive or angry
- May lose their confidence with the outside world
- May struggle express the wide range of intense emotions they are feeling
- May blame themselves
- May struggle to fully comprehend life without their loved one
- May lose sight of their place in the world
- Might feel suicidal
- May become more of a risk-taker as their life feels out of control
- May start to struggle in school and grades may drop
- May abuse alchohol or drugs
- May take on adult responsibilities
- May start to feel depressed