Grief, loss and low mood

Grief is not a problem to fix

When someone we love is hurting, the instinct is often to make it better quickly. But grief is not a fault or a sign that something has gone wrong with you. It is a natural response to loss, and it reflects how much the person, the relationship or the life you had meant to you.

Grief also rarely arrives in tidy stages. You may feel calm one morning and overwhelmed by the afternoon. You may laugh at a memory and then feel guilty for laughing. You may grieve not only the loss itself but the future you had imagined. None of this means you are grieving wrongly.

Many families in India mark a death with rituals and a mourning period, and these can hold people together in the first days and weeks. Once the rituals end and visitors return home, though, the grief often continues quietly. Some people feel they must stay strong for everyone else and leave little room for their own sorrow. Others grieve losses that have no ritual at all, such as a relationship that ended or a home left behind.

There is no right timeline

People are sometimes told, kindly or not, that it is time to move on. Grief does not follow a calendar. Anniversaries, festivals, birthdays and ordinary moments, such as hearing a song or setting one plate too many, can bring it back with surprising force, even long after a loss.

Over time, many people find that grief changes shape rather than disappearing. The loss becomes something they carry alongside a life that slowly fills in around it. There is no deadline for that, and no single way it should look. Being gentle with yourself, keeping some simple routines, and letting a few trusted people know how you are really doing can all help along the way.

When low mood lasts or deepens

Everyone has low days. It is worth talking to someone when the heaviness stays for weeks, when it starts to get in the way of work, sleep, relationships or looking after yourself, or when you notice that you have stopped expecting things to feel better. It is also worth reaching out if you simply feel stuck, or if the people around you are worried and you are not sure what to make of it.

You do not need to have a name for what you are feeling, and you do not need to wait until things are at their worst. This page is here for education, not diagnosis. A conversation with a trained professional is the place to understand what is happening for you and what might help.

How we work with it at The Good Place

At The Good Place we offer a calm, unhurried space to talk about loss and low mood at your own pace. In individual therapy, Dr. Neha Achrekar works with you to make room for what you are feeling, understand what the loss has touched in your life, and find steadier ground.

• Individual therapy, for grief, loss and low mood that you would like to understand and work through.
• Elder support, for older adults facing the loss of a partner, friends, health or independence, and for the family members who care for them.
• Family sessions, when a loss has affected everyone and people are grieving in different ways or struggling to talk about it.

Sessions are available in person at our clinic in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, and online for people wherever they are. You are welcome to reach out simply to ask a question before deciding anything.

When to reach out

• If low mood comes with thoughts of not wanting to live, or of harming yourself, please reach out today. You do not have to wait for an appointment.
• If you are finding it hard to get through the day, to eat, sleep or look after yourself or others who depend on you.
• If the heaviness has stayed for weeks and does not seem to be easing.
• If people close to you are worried about you, or you feel very alone with what you are carrying.