Grief Therapy Online
Grief is the price of love, and there’s no right way to do it. For most people, the sharpest pain slowly softens, but sometimes grief stays raw, or a sudden or violent loss becomes tangled with trauma. Whether you’re early in a loss or still struggling years later, therapy can help you carry it differently. Our licensed clinicians provide grief therapy by secure video in 44 states.
Is What I’m Feeling Normal?
Grief affects your whole self, not just your mood. Common reactions include:
- Waves of sadness, yearning, or longing for the person
- Numbness, disbelief, or feeling like the world isn’t real
- Guilt (“I should have done something”), anger, or relief, sometimes all at once
- Trouble sleeping, eating, or concentrating
- Physical aches, fatigue, or getting sick more often
- Seeing reminders everywhere, or avoiding them entirely
Grief doesn’t follow neat stages. The “five stages” model was never meant as a fixed sequence, and most people move back and forth between painful moments and coping. Anniversaries, holidays, and milestones can bring grief back strongly, even years later.
When Grief Gets Stuck: Prolonged Grief Disorder
For a minority of bereaved people, grief stays intense and disabling. In 2022, the American Psychiatric Association added prolonged grief disorder to its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). For adults, it may be diagnosed when, at least 12 months after a death, a person has intense yearning for or preoccupation with the person nearly every day, along with symptoms such as:
- Feeling as though part of yourself has died
- Marked disbelief about the death
- Avoiding reminders that the person is gone
- Intense emotional pain, such as anger, bitterness, or sorrow
- Difficulty reengaging with relationships and activities
- Emotional numbness
- Feeling that life is meaningless
- Intense loneliness
These symptoms cause significant distress or problems functioning beyond what’s expected in your culture or community. Prolonged grief disorder isn’t grieving “wrong,” and it responds well to targeted treatment.
Grief, Depression, and Trauma
| Typical grief | Depression | Traumatic grief | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Missing the person | General low mood and hopelessness | The way the person died |
| Self-worth | Usually intact | Often feels worthless | Often guilt or self-blame |
| Common signs | Waves of sadness mixed with good moments | Persistent emptiness | Flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance |
After a sudden, violent, or frightening death, such as a suicide, overdose, accident, or homicide, many people develop posttraumatic stress symptoms alongside grief, and treating the trauma often helps grief move again. Learn about our trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) therapy and depression therapy.
How Grief Therapy Helps
Grief therapy isn’t about “getting over” someone. It helps you accept the loss, make room for painful feelings, and keep the connection while living a meaningful life. Treatment may include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to work with guilt, self-blame, and thoughts that keep you stuck, and to gently reduce avoidance
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to make room for grief while reconnecting with what matters to you
- Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (PGDT), a structured, research-supported treatment for prolonged grief that revisits the story of the death and rebuilds goals and relationships. Some of our clinicians use it, so ask when you book.
- Trauma-focused treatments such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) when the death was traumatic
Randomized trials have found that grief-focused CBT and PGDT reduce prolonged grief symptoms more than general supportive counseling.
Kinds of Loss We Help With
- Death of a spouse or partner
- Death of a parent, sibling, or friend
- Loss of a child, pregnancy loss, or stillbirth
- Loss after suicide or overdose
- Loss after a long illness and caregiving
- Death of a pet
- Grief that isn’t about a death, such as divorce, estrangement, a diagnosis, or loss of a career or identity
Some losses are “disenfranchised,” meaning others don’t recognize them. Every loss that matters to you deserves care.
What to Expect
Your first session focuses on your story: who you lost, what happened, and how you’re doing now. Your clinician will screen for depression, trauma, or prolonged grief, and you’ll decide together whether you want open space to talk or structured help with specific symptoms.
Many people notice relief within 8 to 16 sessions, though there’s no deadline on grief.
Caring for Yourself Between Sessions
- Keep basic routines. Regular meals, sleep, and movement help your body cope with stress.
- Let people help. Accept specific offers, such as meals or errands.
- Plan for hard days. Decide in advance how you’ll spend anniversaries and holidays.
- Find ways to stay connected, such as writing letters, keeping traditions, or sharing stories.
- Watch your use of alcohol, which can deepen depression and disrupt sleep.
Telehealth lets you meet from a place where you feel safe, without driving or a waiting room, and research suggests online grief interventions can reduce grief and depression symptoms. Learn how our teletherapy works.
Insurance Coverage
We’re in-network with:
- Aetna. See our Aetna page.
- Optum and UnitedHealthcare, in the states listed on our Optum and UnitedHealthcare page.
- Oscar, through the UnitedHealthcare network
- Anthem, accepted depending on the clinician and state
- Blue Cross Blue Shield, Ambetter (in Washington only), and others
We do not accept Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans.
Psychological Healing has 40 clinicians, offering in-person sessions in 20 states and video sessions in 44 states.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is grief supposed to last? There’s no set timeline. Acute grief often softens over months, but if intense yearning and daily disruption continue past a year, it may be prolonged grief disorder, which is treatable.
Does grief therapy actually help? Yes, especially for prolonged grief. Grief-focused treatments have been shown to work better than general supportive counseling.
When should I see a therapist for grief? Consider therapy if grief is making it hard to function, you feel stuck or numb, you’re struggling with guilt, or the death was sudden or traumatic. You don’t need to wait a year.
Is grief therapy covered by insurance? Often, yes, when there’s a diagnosable condition such as prolonged grief disorder, depression, or an adjustment disorder. We’ll check your benefits.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911.
Clinically reviewed by Karan Singh, Ph.D.
Last reviewed October 16, 2026