What is Grief? When is it an Issue?

Grief is an emotional, physical, and spiritual response to loss. It isn’t only about death—expats in Dubai often grieve lost identity, culture, belonging, or support systems far from home.

Seeking Support for Grief

When grief stays heavy for months and affects sleep, focus, or relationships, it may be time to seek support from a bereavement counsellor in Dubai or a grief therapist near you, support is available.

Book Your Grief Therapy Session in Dubai

What’s the Difference Between Grief and Depression?

Grief and depression can look alike—low mood, lethargy, sleep changes, rumination, and worry often overlap. The key differences lie in time course, intensity, and how you feel about yourself and life.

• Grief: Comes in waves triggered by reminders; you can still feel moments of warmth or humor; self-esteem is usually preserved. Longing and sadness center on the loss.
• Depression: Low mood is persistent most days for 2+ weeks; loss of interest in nearly everything; feelings of worthlessness/guilt; concentration and appetite markedly change; mornings may feel worst.

When to get help for grief?

 If the heaviness lasts for months, disrupts work or relationships, or includes hopelessness or thoughts of self-harm, it’s time to seek depression support. A clinician can distinguish the two and tailor care.

Learn more about depression treatment in Dubai with a UK-trained psychiatrist.

If you’re in immediate danger or considering self-harm, please seek urgent help right away.

When Does Grief Get Complicated?

Grief that is left unattended over time can become increasingly complicated. For many expats in Dubai, the layers of distance, culture, and isolation can make healing even harder without the right support.

Some situations where grief becomes complicated include:

• Traumatic, sudden deaths: unexpected or intentional losses.
• Conflicted relationships: when the bond with the loved one was complicated or unresolved.
• Post-death family conflict: circumstances that leave pain, resentment, or anger.
• Avoidance of emotions: fear of intense feelings or pushing grief away.
• Shame and stigma: surrounding the death of a loved one.
• Preventable loss: deaths that feel like they could have been avoided, leading to guilt or self-blame.

Professional grief therapy in Dubai

If you recognize yourself in any of these, it may be time to seek supportive therapy in Dubai. With the right care, complicated grief can be worked through and transformed into a path of healing.

Book Your Grief Therapy Session in Dubai

When Should You Seek Help for Grief?

You may want to consider grief therapy in Dubai if you are:

• Continuing to feel emotionally overwhelmed and unable to function long after the loss
• Experiencing persistent guilt, rumination, or replaying painful scenes
• Struggling with daily functioning due to grief
• Feeling isolated during your mourning process
• Experiencing anxiety, panic attacks, or health-related fears following a loss

Seeking timely support from a professional grief therapist near you can make all the difference. Therapy provides a safe, compassionate space to process your loss and begin healing.

What Does Grief Therapy Involve?

Grief therapy in Dubai offers a safe and structured way to process loss. A therapist helps you gently explore the emotional and spiritual impacts of grief, while supporting you in regaining stability and meaning.

The key elements a grief therapist may explore include:

• Shock and numbness: disbelief, confusion, and emotional shutdown
• Guilt and self-blame: responsibility, regret, or self-punishment
• Anger and resentment: directed inward, outward, or toward others
• Spiritual conflict: struggles or questioning a higher power
• Unfinished business: unspoken words or unresolved actions

Through professional grief therapy, clients can safely explore these layers, gain insight into internal conflicts, and begin to heal from ruptures caused by loss.

Book Your Grief Therapy Session in Dubai

Can Therapy Help with Complicated Grief?

Regardless of the type of grief—whether recent or long unattended—healing takes support and care. If any of the signs of complicated grief resonate with you, grief therapy in Dubai can help lighten the emotional burden.

While simply talking about the loss may not always be enough, trauma-informed approaches such as Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR therapy can be instrumental in:

• Resolving the intensity of grief and emotional overwhelm
• Safely integrating pain into your life story
• Rebuilding meaning, connection, and purpose

Book Your Grief Counselling Session in Dubai

Which Therapies Can Help Complicated Grief?

Grief does not always soften with time. When it is layered with trauma, guilt, or unresolved attachment injuries, it often needs professional support to heal.

For grief that has become complicated, psychotherapy and integrative trauma therapies can help ease the pain and restore balance. Two approaches with strong evidence for healing complicated grief are:

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy — a gentle way to work with inner parts carrying guilt, anger, or shame so they can release their burdens.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) — highly effective when grief is tied to traumatic or distressing memories.

Dr Millia combines these therapies with compassionate psychiatric care to support expats in Dubai facing complicated grief. 

How Can Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy Help with Grief?

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy can be a powerful approach to grief. It helps clients build compassionate relationships with their inner “protector” parts that often surround and guard against the pain of loss.

These protective parts can show up in many ways, such as:

• Numbing, keeping it together, or trying to stay strong
• Overworking, overachieving, or controlling
• Suppressing or inhibiting feelings to avoid pain
• Distracting through constant activity
• Comfort-seeking or addictive behaviours

Through IFS therapy, you can safely approach these protectors with curiosity and compassion. This allows grief to be expressed and integrated in a way that feels safe, leading to genuine healing.

Learn more about What is IFS Therapy?

How Can EMDR Therapy Help with Grief?

EMDR therapy for grief 

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps release emotional traumas that often accompany loss, such as guilt, shock, disbelief, intrusive images, nightmares, and anxiety.

By accessing memory networks linked to grief and trauma, EMDR helps the brain reprocess painful experiences and reduce their emotional intensity—without requiring you to relive them in detail.

FAQs: Complicated Grief Therapy in Dubai

About Dr. Millia

Dr. Millia Begum is a trained trauma specialist with over 25 years of clinical experience in psychiatry and therapy. She trained in the UK’s NHS system and served the NHS in various senior roles.

She is a former EMDR Europe Approved Consultant, EMDR researcher, and board member of the EMDR Association UK. She is now a member of the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA).

Dr. Millia is a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist, bringing a compassionate, parts-informed approach to her work with clients in Dubai.