Guilt and Regret

Categories: Bereavement

This post on guilt & regret was first shared in March 2015. Its content is powerful, so we’re resharing. Our grief counselors are available to anyone in the community whether or not they’ve had a loved on any one of our services. Our grief programs calendar includes information on grief support groups and workshops.

Guilt and Regret

elderly man contemplating

 “Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion to death.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

There are many feelings that may accompany the experience of grief, and few are more difficult to understand than the feelings of guilt and regret. Guilt and regret are painful feelings that often arise as a follow up to other feelings. A person might feel relieved that their loved one is no longer suffering, then guilt about the feeling of relief. Someone might feel anger about circumstances related to the death, then guilt about the feeling of anger. Guilt is often the emotion that accompanies other grief-related feelings. This is one of the reasons it is so difficult to understand.

It is also easy to confuse the experience of guilt with the experience of regret. Both are emotions that can occur when we are trying to make sense of this loss. They can arise from similar circumstances, and both can be very troubling.

After a death occurs, it is natural for people to want to comb back through the details leading to the death as a way of trying to understand how this could have happened. During this review of details, we may come across mistakes that were made, or things that we would change if we could.

Guilt

Guilt is a powerful emotion. It can hold us in bondage, isolate us and alter how we look at the world. Realistic guilt exists when we have done something we knew was wrong, but we may also unrealistically blame ourselves for things over which we had no control. Guilt causes us to punish ourselves and keeps us focused on the past.

Regret

Regret is what we feel when we identify the “shoulda woulda couldas,” things that we would have done differently if we had known then what we know now. Examples of this might include wishing we had spent more time with a loved one before the death, wishing we had said “I love you” more often, or wondering if a different course of treatment could have possibly changed an outcome.

The problem is we often get the two confused. You may be thinking “it doesn’t matter what I call it, it is still painful.” While that is very true, knowing the difference between guilt and regret can help us to understand how to work with these painful emotions.

How to cope with guilt and regret

  • Tell someone you trust what you are feeling. Blaming ourselves or wishing we had done something different is natural. We may need to be reminded that we did the best we could, that we were tired or stressed, or that we couldn’t have been there at the last minute. After the fact, we lose the objectivity to remember exactly how things were or we forget all the things we did right. If the person you trust says, “No, you aren’t to blame,” trust them and let it go.
  • Write a list of what you feel bad about. Then, as objectively as you can, identify what is guilt and what is regret. Is your guilt realistic or unrealistic? If it is realistic, was it intentional or unintentional? Our grief blinds us to the truth sometimes.
  • If it is regret you are feeling, there are ways to move past the feeling. It may be writing a letter expressing to the person who has died how you feel. If there is time, it may be talking to a terminally ill person about unfinished or unresolved issues between you.
  • If there is true guilt about something done wrong, you may receive relief by finding a way to make amends. An example of this is volunteering to do something kind for someone else.
  • Be open to forgiving yourself. Forgiveness allows us to move toward healing, and may also create new ways to remember painful memories.
  • Look for a lesson that can be learned from your experience. Guilt and regret can inspire us to choose to become a better person, teaching us compassion, empathy for others in pain, or perhaps to say “I love you” more frequently.
  • Most importantly, allow yourself to remember the things you did right. Guilt and regret are feelings that occur as we focus on the things that may have gone wrong in a relationship. Those memories may need some attention, and it is important to acknowledge them, but remember to look at the big picture. Those moments that we feel guilt or regret over are a part of a larger picture that may capture more aspects of the relationship.

–by Laura B., grief counselor

bereavement, coping, death, elisabeth kubler-ross, grief, guilt, regret
Previous Post
Learning to Accept Happiness Without Guilt
Next Post
Paying it Forward (The Gift of Advance Directives)

7 Comments. Leave new

  • Thank you Laura for this article. I recently did lost a friend (doggo) and I’m feeling kinda guilty about it. But is no the first time this happens to me, but with your advice I will start healing faster and forgive myself. Yes, I do feel guilty, “I could’ve done more” but I will learn from it, I don’t to say this learning experience cost the life my beloved friend, but it will show me that I need to pay more attention to details when someone I love feels bad or sick. I’m sure I did my best, I put all my attention and effort to help but it didn’t went as I expected. I decided that I will start going to the vet school as soon as possible to get a degree, I made this promise 5 years ago (with a different loss) and I think its the time to make it a reality. Thank you again.

    Reply
  • This article definitely came at the right time.
    Thank you

    Reply
  • Thank you so much. For the past year I have been beating myself up after my husband transitioned. Felt guilty and regret for every thing I should have could have would have in our forty two years together. The explanation and tools I plan to go over . I just printed them out to read again and do the lists. Thanks. For the first time I am hopeful I can help myself move forward.

    Reply
  • This article seems to be helping me put my guilt and regret into perspective.Its a long hard road and it will take time to be able to move forward,one step at a time..

    Reply
  • Guilt and regret comes together. Regret that my son didn’t open up with with his problem. Guilty that I didn’t force him asked what was his problem.
    How I can cope up with this?

    Reply
  • I found this article helpful. I just lost my spouse of 41 years. She was chronically ill the past 30 years. Spent the last 12 years in a nursing home. Spent the last 9 years on a Trilogy machine. Bed fast the past 2 years. On Hospice the past year for Respiratory Failure and multi organ failure. So true about reliving the woulda coulda shoulda’s along with guilt. I relived the last week of her life, over and over the first month, wondering if I coulda done or said something to change the outcome. The honest answer is no. I’m trying to focus on the good times we had together. It’s not easy though.

    Reply
  • My mother just past 4/14/22. I was her 24/7 caregiver . She had dementia, severe aortic stenosis. Regret that I didn’t hug and dance with her more. Also feel guilt that if I did things differently in her care she would still be here . She lived to be 96 but I feel I was talked into Putting her on home hospice to soon since she lived 5 months more on home hospice but feel she would of lived longer on just home health and being able to see her regular doctors.
    Ps the article on regret and guilt did help me understand better thank you

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives