During this difficult time in living history also known as the Coronavirus pandemic, we are all grieving and some more than others because they have lost something precious to them, and this is where social psychology and cognitive psychology can help.
Also, as we are dealing with grief, this post may tap into areas of abnormal psychology and clinical psychology as well.
In addition, this social psychology blog post can easily to applied to everyday life and certainly after the pandemic, so how can social psychology help us to help our friends deal with their grief?
Check in:
I know that this simple act of kindness seems stupid or too simple but I promise you that simply checking in with a friend or family member to see if they need anything or to see if they’re okay means everything to that person.
Mainly, because you’ve bothered, and you have tried to help them.
Currently, I write this blog post two weeks after the death of my Grandma and I have let my parents deal with the funeral and my grandad as they want to try and protect with from this horror.
However, I still text my grandad to see if he’s okay and he always says how much that means to him.
Also, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking for him.
Actively Listen:
I cannot stress enough that humans have a great ability to think they know exactly what to say because they believe that they have listened to the person in need but when they try to help. They end up not being helpful because they didn’t listen to the person in need and what they needed to help them move on.
Resulting in you probably giving them poor advice, and they may even tell you to go away as clearly you don’t care enough about them to listen to them properly.
This is probably false but if you don’t actively listen to the friend in need then this is the impression you can give off.
Offer Specific Forms of Help:
This method of helping is usual and confusing at first, because what types of help can you offer?
Well, this is actually very simple as all you need to do is simply offer to do specific tasks for them. For example, shopping, cleaning or making phone calls.
Going back to my personal example, my family has been helping my grandad quite a bit because we are supporting him and another vulnerable person by doing their shopping for them as well as my mum is helping him make the phone calls to inform others about my
Grandma’s death and other matters.
Therefore, the takeaway message here is to think about what you can help your family member or friend in need with and then offer that help to them.
Provide Resources:
This psychology blog post is definitely taking a turn towards abnormal psychology and clinical psychology now as sometimes we know that our friend or family member needs professional help. This can be in terms of mental health support or another support service; like: taxes and probate; so to help your friend in need. It’s very useful to guide them the resources they need so they can get this help and they should appreciate it as you are trying to help them.
I hope that you’re joined this social psychology and abnormal psychology blog post and if you want to know more about psychology then please sign up for my newsletter to learn more about psychology and get your FREE book.
Have a great day,
Connor.
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