Claire Bidwell Smith on Anxiety & Grief (ENCORE EPISODE)

ENCORE EPISODE - originally published December 18, 2019 I had such a great discussion with Claire Bidwell Smith for this episode. Claire is a therapist and is the author of three books on grief, including her most recent, “Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief.” Anxiety is a topic I hear about a lot from widowed parents, either in relation to themselves or their kids, so it was really great to have Claire on the show to discuss this. Some topics Claire and I discuss include: How she started having anxiety and panic attacks around the time her mom died, and no one connected it to her grief; What anxiety is, and what are some symptoms; Why it’s important to work through your grief in order to tackle your anxiety; If you’re stifling your grief, it’s likely to manifest in anxiety; Grief-related anxiety can be present right away or many years out from loss; Kids who lost a parent often have fear of additional loss; How guilt and regret contribute to anxiety after loss, and ways to process these feelings; Sometimes people hold onto the guilt as a way of holding onto the person; Finding other ways to hold onto the person’s memory so you can let go of the guilt; Why writing is an important tool for processing grief, and tips for doing this; and Why telling our story of loss is important. I hope you enjoy my discussion with Claire Bidwell Smith.