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Grief and Disappointment Facts & Worksheets

Grief and Disappointment are extremely negative emotions, that may affect a person's daily tasks.

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A person who loses a loved one or experiences significant disappointment may struggle to live a contented life because of these emotions. Rather, they experience numbness, extreme negative emotions and may struggle with daily tasks.

See the fact file below for more information on Grief and Disappointment or you can download our 22-page Grief and Disappointment worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Background

  • Grief is a strong feeling of sorrow caused by the loss of someone or something significant. Disappointment is a feeling of sadness or dismay that comes from a non-fulfillment of expectations and hopes.
  • Grief and disappointment can be felt in different circumstances. 
  • However, they can also be experienced at the same time.
  • People who experience grief and disappointment must take time to heal emotionally before making big decisions.
  • Other emotions, such as anger, can also be felt along with grief and disappointment, so one should avoid being impulsive.

Grief

  • It is natural for humans to develop a close bond with their family members, friends, and community.
  • People also develop strong emotional bonds with pets. It’s even possible to be emotionally connected to projects or businesses that have taken a lot of time and effort to build.
  • Once this connection or bond is lost, a person feels a strong emotional response called grief.
  • Grief can go with feelings of sadness, disorientation, and more distressing emotions.
  • Often, grief is experienced following the death of a loved one.
  • Grief is more than an emotion; it is considered a process.

Types of Grief

  • Experts recognize two types of grief: normal or healthy, and complicated or prolonged.
  • Normal grief is said to be temporary.
  • A person who experiences normal grief might have to adapt to the change in the following weeks or months.
  • The loss is always there, but the person will learn to cope with the “new normal” established during the circumstance.
  • Complicated grief does not disappear over time.
  • This kind of feeling restricts a person from returning to their daily life and can cause abnormal behavior and reactions.
  • Experiences during complicated grief can also be the same as normal grief. 
  • Complicated grief can be felt with emotions such as irritation, anger, pain, intense sadness, and absent-mindedness.
  • It can have physical symptoms too, like listlessness or tiredness.
  • In the worst cases, some people might have suicidal thoughts.

Other types of grief are:

  • Disenfranchised Grief. People who experience disenfranchised or silent grief cannot openly express their feelings because of the pressure they feel around them. It can be from the family, community, or society.
  • Delayed Grief. A person delays their normal grief response with or without the intention to do so. 
    • Some people feel that they put on a brave face and need to be strong because they think they are responsible for helping their loved ones cope with the situation. For example, a parent may delay their grief so that the children can express theirs.
  • Traumatic Grief. Traumatic grief occurs when the loss of a loved one is unexpected, violent, or unnatural.
    • People who experience this grief might also develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
  • Anticipatory Grief. Anticipated loss or situations that are expected are the principal causes of feeling anticipatory grief. For example, a loved one has a terminal illness.
  • Cumulative Grief. This type of grief is accumulated over time, following a series of losses in a short period.

Stages of Grief

Knowing the phases of grief can help a person understand themselves better and what they are going through.

DENIAL

  • In this stage, a person is avoiding the situation. 
  • The person tends to keep busy all the time, but is also easily distracted. 
  • Their responses are short, such as, “I’m fine” or “It’s okay” before changing the subject.
  • When someone is reaching out to them, they shut them down. This is because it is too painful to address.

ANGER

  • The person in the anger stage is easily irritable, pessimistic, aggressive, or passive-aggressive, often gets into fights, and might be under the influence of different vices. This is often because a person feels anger and unfairness for losing someone they love.

BARGAINING

  • In this stage, a person starts to reminisce on the past and the what-ifs.
  • They tend to compare themselves with others, overthink, and worry even about the small things.
  • A person can feel guilt, fear, shame, and insecurity.

DEPRESSION

  • Depression might make the person feel hopeless and helpless.
  • They are bound to feel an intense feeling of sadness. 
  • A person in this stage is often sleep deprived, has reduced energy, lacks social interest, has no appetite, and lacks motivation.

ACCEPTANCE

  • Acceptance is the last stage of grief. A person learns to accept the present situation and adapts to the moment. 
  • They restart their life courageously and slowly get back to living their life.

Symptoms and Effects

  • The emotional symptoms of grief may include sadness, yearning, denial, numbness, shock, guilt, anger, and helplessness.
  • Some physical conditions can also be felt, such as difficulties in breathing, dizziness, nausea, discomfort in the stomach, fatigue, headache, weakness in the muscles, and tightness in the chest.
  • If a person recognizes the symptoms, these must be acknowledged and take appropriate actions.
  • If grief is neglected, it may cause mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, and can also affect the physical health of a person.

Disappointment

  • Disappointment happens when someone or something does not meet a person’s expectations, or something you anticipated or hoped for did not materialize.
  • Like grief, it can bring a lot of sadness to a person.
  • Coping with disappointment depends on how intense the impact is on the person.

Reasons for Disappointment

Disappointment may come from three main causes:

  • Arrival Fallacy. This occurs when a person is too focused on reaching goals but abandons the process. It is when you perceive that positive things are likely to happen, but it turns the other way around.
  • Experiences. Most disappointments can come from childhood experiences. A person might have experienced trauma or had many disappointments during childhood. When they get into the same circumstance, they may express a negative outlook on the situation and feel disappointed again.
  • Expectations. The expectations a person has can cause disappointment. When people set out what they want as a result, this is an expectation. But it doesn’t always match the circumstances. Here, a person may refuse to accept the outcome.

Coping with Grief and Disappointment

  • The feeling of grief and disappointment are hard to resolve.
  • They may linger for days or even years; however, it is advisable to recognize them and be informed on what you can do.

Acknowledge your emotions

  • Do not avoid your emotions and allow yourself to feel them. Think of ways of how you could let it out. You can either scream, shout, exercise vigorously, do some journaling, or find other healthy ways to relieve the emotion.
  • Acknowledging these feelings can be a beautiful process because it can help a person grow and live better.

Re-Evaluate

  • Reassess your situation and learn to compose yourself.
  • Separate your emotions and the reality of the moment, and make your plans.

Getting Perspective

  • Do not be afraid to open up to people.
  • Choose the ones you fully trust and listen to their suggestions.
  • They might give opinions that you never knew you needed.

Practice Self-Acceptance and Self-Care

  • Accept the current situation and take the positive things out of it.
  • Both grief and disappointment are a kind of emotional injury. Allow yourself time to heal and be kind to yourself.
  • Grief and disappointment come and go; the are also difficult to avoid, so rather learn to cope with them so you can take them in your stride.

Grief and Disappointment Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Grief and Disappointment across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Grief and Disappointment, which are extremely negative emotions, that may affect a person’s daily tasks.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Grief and Disappointment Facts
  2. Share Your Story
  3. The Reality
  4. My Resolution
  5. Flying Message
  6. The Stages
  7. This I Do, People I Trust
  8. Read and Be Inspired
  9. What Should I Do?
  10. Feelings We Share
  11. Pop Your Worries

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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