In this post, I write about four processes that deserve more attention and are applicable to regular life, to philosophy as something lived, and to recovery from Complex PTSD (Cptsd). We might, I think, refer to these “grieving” processes as “emotional processing” processes.

Pete Walker, however, is employing the term “grieving” in a somewhat broad sense. It doesn’t only relate to death in the literal sense. In his usage here, it relates above all various to metaphorical deaths (for example, “the temporary death of [one’s] sense of safety in the world”), and perhaps even more widely to anything felt as a loss.

Additionally, Walker is considering these four processes primarily in the context of a Cptsd recovery process. That context alone would make them worth writing about. However, I think these four processes have wide applicability and most likely are integral to any well-regulated emotional life.

(See my Books / Resources page for Pete Walker’s books which deal with this topic.)

The Processes’ Function

What is the point of these processes? The ten-second answer is: to processes unprocessed emotions that need to be processed.

(Side note: The question of just what is meant by “to process” is certainly worth raising and exploring. However, I’m going to rely on your preexisting understanding of what it means to “process” emotions.)

Types of Unprocessed Emotions

Such “unprocessed” emotions could be at least three types of internal “situations:”

1. Emotions from long ago which were never able to be processed, and so remain trapped within one.
2. This is kind of the same as the first. Emotions that have arisen as part of a Cptsd emotional flashback. (See my post Pete Walker’s Five Key Features of Complex PTSD.)
3. Recently arisen emotions which have yet to be somehow “processed.”

Recently Arisen Unprocessed Emotions

These recently arisen unprocessed emotions could be latent at the moment. For example, I might have felt angered yesterday, or saddened earlier today. I might not yet have truly “moved on” from those emotions, even if I’m not actually feeling them at the moment. In that case, there is a latent anger or sadness that is liable to “flare up,” and create a disproportionate reaction in the near or relatively near future.

Alternatively, there could be as yet unprocessed emotions that are active at the moment. For example, I might be feeling frustration at an inconvenient or confusing driving situation, or at a disruption to my expected schedule, or at something someone has just said to me.

Relevance of Unprocessed Emotions

The first two types of unprocessed emotions are relevant to anyone with Cptsd, and no doubt to certain other individuals as well. In the case of Cptsd, those first two types are relevant specifically to managing and recovering from it, and more generally to healing the trapped emotions and managing emotional flashbacks.

The third type of unprocessed emotion, I think, is relevant to everyone. It’s relevant frequently, and relevant both in the course of ordinary daily life and in the case of more emotionally trying events. Even so, I don’t think these four grieving processes are discussed or taught much. I think that perhaps they should even be adopted as part of philosophy. (See my post Philosophy as an Art of Living.)

Summary of Each Process

Here I will merely try to say a little about each process. Much more detail, including practical guidance, can be found in Walker’s books Complex PTSD and The Tao of Fully Feeling (links below). I might also go into greater depth with these processes in future posts.

Angering

Although the name may sound like it means becoming angry or making someone else angry, “angering” as the “grieving” process is actually a matter of feeling and, crucially, expressing anger that already in some form exists. Not just talking about it, but actively and outwardly emoting that anger through actions other than mere words.

There is more to this angering, including important considerations of toward whom the anger gets directed and for what, as well as the proviso that the emoting be channeled so as not to be harming others or oneself. (Again, Walker goes into more detail about this, and perhaps I will as well in some future posts.)

Crying

This is pretty much what the name suggests. Tears and/or sobs and/or shaking and so forth, in connection with sadness feelings. This outward emoting of sadness has some interesting functions (again, see Walker’s books or perhaps future posts on this site).

Verbal Ventilating

Very basically, this means speaking about your feelings etc., and doing so in a manner that allows your vocal tone to be highly expressive of emotion. Of course, there’s more to say about it than just that.

Feeling, or Passively Feeling

This is a more subtle grieving process, and also more inward, than the other three. Briefly, it is paying close, non-judging, non-reactive attention to the subtle bodily states, feelings, sensations which belong to the deep depression of Cptsd. (It is also, I think, applicable outside of Cptsd recovery, not just to other psychological conditions but to emotional regulation and life in general.)

In Closing / See Also

I rather think all four processes have wider application than Cptsd recovery. I even think that probably, these should belong to a general, culture-wide repertoire of healthy growth, relationship, and regulation. At the very least, they should form part of general philosophical-spiritual practice.

Links:

Info about Pete Walkers books Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, and The Tao of Fully Feeling: Harvesting Forgiveness Out of Blame, both of which deal with these four grieving processes, on my “Books / Resources” page.

My post Philosophy as an Art of Living

My post Pete Walker’s Five Key Features of Complex PTSD

*The quotation in the first paragraph is from Complex PTSD by Pete Walker.

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