Throughout our lives, we are confronted with the realities of saying goodbye and death - some as children, others only in adulthood.

When it affects us personally and we lose a loved one, it is usually a very difficult experience that turns our lives completely upside down.

Saying goodbye to a person - or even to a furry four-legged friend - can be a slow and prolonged process. We need time to work through our grief and accept the finality of the separation.

Unfortunately, Western society has pushed dying and death out of everyday life. In the past, mourning customs and rituals played a stabilizing and meaningful role.

Our culture of mourning has changed. The open expression of pain, anger, and despair over the loss of a loved one is often met with a lack of understanding from those around us.

That is why many mourners try to suppress their feelings. Through distraction or with the help of medication and alcohol, some try to escape the grieving process.

Yet grief is essential for emotionally processing the loss. The goal of the grieving process is to say a final inner goodbye to the deceased, to accept the loss, and to be ready to turn back toward life.

In my practice, I recommend the form of therapy that is best suited for you in each case. In behavioral therapy (hypnosis session), systematic desensitization involves linking an associated fear - as a learned response to a stimulus - with a positive situation in which a positive response occurs.

Relaxation is considered a positive outcome; the patient with a clearly defined phobia creates a list of ten fears ranked by intensity. When applied to grief, a hierarchy of particularly distressing situations related to the lost person or pet can be established and used to gradually alleviate them through simultaneous relaxation, ultimately leading to a subsiding of grief and acceptance.