Grief & Mourning

Grief and mourning are normal reactions to loss. When a man loses the ability to control his bladder and his erection after prostate cancer treatment, he may experience grief and mourning about those losses. The partner may have similar feelings because these changes affect the partner, too. While grief and mourning, with their intense feelings, such as frustration, anger, irritability, sadness, hopelessness, can be worrisome, knowing that they are normal and will diminish over time can help.

Grief and mourning are not the same as depression. Allowing oneself to feel the feelings, talking about them with people who are close or a counselor will diminish them. Part of mourning is learning to cope and finding solutions. For couples, sharing feelings of grief and mourning can be healing.