For some, the emotional burden of acute sorrow becomes unbearable and they may feel compelled to resort to escape mechanisms, such as fainting, excessive drinking, or medications.

• Others may breathe a sigh of relief, perhaps because a bitter or disharmonious marital relationship has finally been dissolved, or because a loved one has at last been freed from pain and suffering.
  
  In many instances, it is only when the deceased is finally buried that disbelief over the harsh finality of death fades and the reality of the circumstances emerge to be eventually accepted.

Copyright 2000