Losing a loved one has many unfortunate psychological effects. For some, feelings of anger and resentment could arise. Even if you really loved the person who has passed away, these dark feelings may very well be present. Unless you undergo proper grief counseling, these sentiments may come out in the way you conduct yourself and negatively complicate your life.

Resentment Takes Over

The root of resentment is a feeling of "real or imagined injustice". Even if your feelings of love toward a departed relative are sincere, anger over incidents in the past may bubble up and reveal themselves when emotions boil over upon the individual's passing. Even incidents that occurred long in the past such as a parent's divorce 30 years ago have the potential to create a groundswell of negative emotions. The death itself might create major feelings of anger and resentment due to the loved one leaving you.

If these feelings are brief, fleeting, and pass away fairly quickly, their impact is not going to be too severe. Unfortunately, the feelings could linger and cause a lot of chaos in your life if left untreated.

Controlling Your Conscious Behavior

When you have not put to rest feelings maintained about the departed, the subconscious could start to overtake conscious actions in a less-than-desirable manner. Anger and resentment issues bubbling to the surface might cause:

• Passive-aggressive anger to be acted out against employers and co-workers.
• Constant sniping and snapping at people in social settings.
• Being belligerent or unforgiving to family members in the home.

Even if you were never someone who embodied any of these traits in the past, such behaviors could all start to become part of your personality when troubles in the subconscious mind are bubbling to the surface. Sadly, you might be completely unaware of your change in attitude much less the cause of the change. Meeting with a grief counselor could help address serious problems long before they manifest outwards toward others.

Controlling behaviors of this nature as quickly as possible is critically important. Damaging professional and personal relationships could yield repercussions that could outright ruin your life.

Take Part in Grief Counseling

Enrolling in grief counseling sessions after a loved one's funeral has the potential to curtail a lot of anger and resentment you may feel inside. Bottled-up emotions can take a powerful psychological toll and letting go of these emotions helps liberate you from negative feelings. Once gone, these feelings are no longer capable of causing harm.

Some funeral homes, like Gillies Funeral Chapel, even offer grief counseling and support for those who have lost loved ones.