Loneliness: Divorce & Loss

Video Transcript

"Hello, I'm Doctor Bernice Bernhard, a New York State licensed psychologist practicing here in New York City. In this segment I'm going to talk about coping with being alone either through being divorced or through the loss of a loved one. Although very different I put them together because for both kinds of people, the loss is terrible and what you have to learn to do is give yourself what I call the gift of extended time. It's important at this time in your life that you don't make any big decisions, that you don't let other people decide things for you. And that both of you, those who have lost a loved one through death or those who are divorced, both of you surround yourself with people who care about you and can be there to support you. The person that has lost a loved one through death may find that they want to visit a grave site or a place where ashes has been scattered, you may want to write letters to the person that is deceased even though of course they can't get them but it does help to say what it is that you may not have had time to say. For the divorced person there may be a lot of anger but that's part of the process. Again surround yourself with people in your life and as you move on hopefully you can see this as a new beginning where you will again be able to find somebody that can be in your life. It's Doctor Bernhard, thank you."