Disenfranchised grief - struggling with family, friends or therapist not understanding what we're going through?

[hertsmeets]

Whenever I try to speak to my sister about my grief of childlessness, she says 'well you could have adopted couldn't you!' It's like a spear through my heart that she can't understand how painful and dismissive this is, and adding shame to my feelings. For one, adoption is very difficult, challenging and not the quick fix people seem to think it is. It doesn't resolve my feelings of loss. I came across this video on disenfranchised grief, recorded by Katy Seppi, the host of the Lighthouse Women community for childless women, and Dr. Nisa Darroux who has studied disenfranchised grief . It really helps explain why people don't or can't understand our loss, because it's not tangible, they can't see the loss and there's no rules in society for how to demonstrate their feelings about this loss. It might be good to share, particularly with therapists who might not be sympathetic, to help them understand the loss and why it's so significant for us. youtu.be/sI9i3CoLuFk(Not working as expected?)