Author Archives: Angela Dora Dobrzynski

The “Stages of Grief” that people refer to often are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. These stages, however, were never meant to describe the process of grief after a death. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the psychiatrist who proposed those stages in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying” was studying the processes of terminally ill patientsContinue reading “What Are the Stages of Grief?”

Drink water. Especially if you have been crying a lot. Drink water. To feel the cool trickle down your throat. Drink water. Let it renew you. Drink water. Because you are alive.

Sometimes the intense grief we experience when someone dies is expected. You can’t imagine living without your devoted mother or your beloved son. Their presence in your life was enriching and comforting and special, so to lose that is obviously painful. But what happens when we lose someone with whom we had a bad relationship?Continue reading “Grieving What Never Was”

“She’s still alive. I mean thank God for that. But I still feel like I’ve lost her, and no one understands my grief.” Several years ago, a therapy client came to me with this about her adult daughter.                 If you have ever had a friend or loved one in the throes of addiction, theContinue reading “Grieving Someone in Active Addiction”

In addition to the ample letters in my name- Angela Dora Dobrzynski, nee Marchesani- I have acquired quite a collection of letters after my name. LPC, CGCS, CHHC For many people, these letters read like meaningless alphabet soup, but in reality, they denote the credentials I have earned in my career as a therapist. IfContinue reading “My Alphabet Soup”

So many clients come to counseling to get help from a therapist for reactions that they no longer want to perpetuate. As adults, trying to navigate the world and especially relationships with others, they begin to see patterns and responses in ourselves that are at times unsavory. Perhaps they yell at their children, get insecureContinue reading “It’s Not Your Fault (but now it’s your responsibility)”

When one thing has ended but the next thing has not begun. When you don’t know what’s next. When your life feels like it’s in a holding pattern. When you feel unmoored. When you’ve released one vine as you swing through the jungle, but now you’re hurtling through mid-air, flailing and grasping for the nextContinue reading “The Space Between”