Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, shows possible debris that may be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 
Australian Maritime Safety Authority's John Young speaks to the media about satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the Malaysian Airlines flight in Canberra, Australia. 
A distraught relative of a passenger on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Wednesday, March 19. The Boeing 777-200ER disappeared during a March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Searchers from 26 countries are trying to pinpoint its location somewhere along two vast arcs, one stretching deep into the Asian landmass, the other far out into the Indian Ocean. 
A relative of Chinese passengers aboard the missing plane waits for a news briefing by officials in Beijing on Tuesday, March 18. 
A relative of a Chinese passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 tells reporters in Beijing on March 18 about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet. 
A member of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency joins in a search for the missing plane in the Andaman Sea area around the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra on Monday, March 17. 
Relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 watch a news program about the missing plane as they await information at a hotel ballroom in Beijing on March 17. 
Malaysian Transportation Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, center, shows maps of the search area at a hotel next to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 17. 
U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations Sunday, March 16, in the Indian Ocean. 
Indonesian personnel watch over high seas during a search operation in the Andaman Sea on Saturday, March 15. 
A foam plane, which has personalized messages for the missing flight's passengers, is seen at a viewing gallery March 15 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
A member of the Malaysian navy makes a call as his ship approaches a Chinese coast guard ship in the South China Sea on March 15. 
A Indonesian ship heads to the Andaman Sea during a search operation near the tip of Sumatra, Indonesia, on March 15. 
Elementary school students pray for the missing passengers during class in Medan, Indonesia, on March 15. 
Col. Vu Duc Long of the Vietnam air force fields reporters' questions at an air base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after a search operation on Friday, March 14. 
Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on Thursday, March 13. The search area for Flight 370 has grown wider. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, efforts are expanding west into the Indian Ocean. 
A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13. 
Malaysian air force members look for debris on March 13 near Kuala Lumpur. 
A relative of a missing passenger watches TV at a Beijing hotel as she waits for the latest news March 13. 
A member of the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency scans the horizon in the Strait of Malacca on Wednesday, March 12. 
Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12. 
Journalists raise their hands to ask questions during a news conference in Sepang on March 12. 
Indonesian air force officers in Medan, Indonesia, examine a map of the Strait of Malacca on March 12. 
A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on Tuesday, March 11. 
Iranians Pouri Nourmohammadi, second left, and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza, far right, were identified by Interpol as the two men who used stolen passports to board the flight. But there's no evidence to suggest either was connected to any terrorist organizations, according to Malaysian investigators. Malaysian police believe Nourmohammadi was trying to emigrate to Germany using the stolen Austrian passport. 
An Indonesian navy crew member scans an area of the South China Sea bordering Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on Monday, March 10. 
Vietnam air force Col. Le Huu Hanh is reflected on the navigation control panel of a plane that is part of the search operation over the South China Sea on March 10. 
Relatives of the missing flight's passengers wait in a Beijing hotel room on March 10. 
A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews before returning to search for the missing plane Sunday, March 9, in the Gulf of Thailand. 
Members of the Fo Guang Shan rescue team offer a special prayer March 9 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
A handout picture provided by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency shows personnel checking a radar screen during search-and-rescue operations March 9. 
Italian tourist Luigi Maraldi, who reported his passport stolen in August, shows his current passport during a news conference at a police station in Phuket island, Thailand, on March 9. Two passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight were reportedly traveling on stolen passports belonging to Maraldi and an Austrian citizen whose papers were stolen two years ago. 
Hugh Dunleavy, commercial director of Malaysia Airlines, speaks to journalists March 9 at a Beijing hotel where relatives and friends of the missing flight's passengers are staying. 
Vietnamese air force crew stand in front of a plane at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 9 before heading out to the area between Vietnam and Malaysia where the airliner vanished. 
Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9. 
The Chinese navy warship Jinggangshan prepares to leave Zhanjiang Port early on March 9 to assist in search-and-rescue operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. The Jinggangshan, an amphibious landing ship, is loaded with lifesaving equipment, underwater detection devices and supplies of oil, water and food. 
Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9. The vessel is carrying 12 divers and will rendezvous with another rescue vessel on its way to the area where contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 
The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea. 
A family member of missing passengers is mobbed by journalists at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday, March 8. 
A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported March 8. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10. 
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8. 
Malaysia Airlines official Joshua Law Kok Hwa, center, speaks to reporters in Beijing on March 8. 
A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8. 
Wang Yue, director of marketing of Malaysia Airlines in China, reads a company statement during a news conference at the Metro Park Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 8. 
Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8. 
A woman asks a staff member at the Beijing airport for more information on the missing flight. 
A Malaysian man who says he has relatives on board the missing plane talks to journalists at the Beijing airport on March 8. 
Passengers walk past a Malaysia Airlines sign on March 8 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference on March 8 at a hotel in Sepang. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said. 
- Relatives of people on board Flight 370 protest about the missing plane
- Curt Drennen: It is heart-wrenching for these families who are in limbo
- He says with each passing day, it's likely that passengers are dead
- Drennen: Relatives have to create a new life without their loved one
Editor's note: Curt H. Drennen is a clinical psychologist and manager for Disaster Behavioral Health Services in the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response at Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment.
(CNN) -- It is agony for the relatives of the 239 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which set out from Kuala Lumpur heading to Beijing on the night of March 8. After more than a week, the plane is still missing. With new clues spawning new theories every day, authorities are searching a huge area of nearly 3 million square miles of the Indian Ocean.
At a nightly news briefing in Kuala Lumpur, relatives protested and demanded more information from Malaysian officials.
Some relatives, such as Sarah Bajc, partner of American Philip Wood, are still hopeful. But many others are angry, frustrated and overcome with grief. They're fed up with the "Malaysian government's inaction." On YouTube, a video shows a mother asking: "Where is my son? Why are you not giving me answers?"
The 227 passengers and 12 crew members might all be dead. Most of the passengers were Chinese. There were three Americans.
It is heart-wrenching for these families who are in limbo. As long as the plane is not found, there is a glimmer of hope that those on board are alive. But with each passing day, it seems more and more likely that they are lost forever. This state of ambiguity may be the most painful: The not knowing, the wondering "what if," the process of seeking answers and not receiving any. The waiting is excruciating and makes people justifiably upset.
For these families who are in despair, they may have to accept the loss and create a new life without the person they loved.
I've counseled people in various stages of loss and grief. In my role now as Colorado's behavioral health disaster coordinator, I have often worked with people who have experienced sudden, painful and intense loss.
Families of Flight 370 demanding answers 
Grieving mom: Tell the truth We shepherd them to the first responders who provide counseling, guidance and support. Colorado has had its share of disasters -- wildfires, tornadoes and floods that destroy communities, businesses, farms and take lives unexpectedly. Community violence such as the theater shooting in Aurora in 2012 or school violence such as Columbine High School that happened 15 years ago next month, take innocent lives from our midst in tragic and unimaginable ways.
Grief is not an emotion per se, but a process that is physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual. It hits you in your gut. It doesn't just affect immediate family members; I know people who are grieving for the passengers of Flight 370, and they have no connection to anyone who was lost.
When we grieve, we feel the loss of an expected hello or an anniversary. We sense the absence of a planned outing or joint project, and what was supposed to happen tomorrow, next week, next year, next decade. We think back on fond interactions. We feel sorry for not having parted on the best of terms, leaving arguments or expressions of anger in the air. We expected to know someone for a very long time, and that time was suddenly cut short.
How can the relatives of those on Flight 370 best deal with the current situation? Here are some suggestions:
1. Be connected to others. Don't struggle with ambiguity or grieve in silence. Surround yourself with people who can love and support you through the hard times. Share your experience, talk about it or write about it. Tell stories about the lost individual and celebrate his or her life.
2. Allow yourself all the time that you need. Some people will appear to get over it quickly. Others will take years if not decades to feel like they have accepted their loss and have returned to a normal life. Be careful that you don't blame yourself for still feeling sad when you see others moving on.
3. Get help if you need it. If you find that you are really struggling, that your sleep has changed for the worse, that you're not eating or eating too much or that you can't focus or think clearly, then seek out a therapist, a counselor or a spiritual caregiver who can provide you with more direct guidance, direction, support and resources.
4. When you are ready, allow yourself to return to your everyday routines, roles and responsibilities. This can help you orient yourself to your life, even as you continue to mourn your loss. But don't be too hard on yourself if you haven't completely gotten on track in your job, life commitments and other activities.
5. Finally, look for ways that you can give to others. There are hundreds of stories of people who, after the sudden and tragic loss of a loved one, took action to honor the lost life by helping their communities. When we focus on the needs of others, it helps alleviate our own pain.
In the months and years to come, each individual, each family, each community will define what the loss means. Humans are naturally resilient. The loss may be forever, but the grief does not have to be.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Curt H. Drennen.
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