Bereavement

Synonyms

Affliction; Deprivation; Distress; Misfortune; Mourning; Sorrow; Tribulation

Definition

State of sorrow over the death or loss of a loved one.

Description

Bereavement has typically been associated with the loss of a loved one through death. While many researchers have studied bereavement through multiple lenses, the stages associated with bereavement proposed by Kubler-Ross [2] have remained the seminal framework. The five stages of bereavement are: (a) denial, (b) anger, (c) bargaining, (d) depression, and (e) acceptance What has changed regarding the stages of bereavement is the notion that the stages occur in a explicit order and that people remain in each stage through completion as originally asserted by Kubler-Ross . It is unknown why people go through stages of bereavement or grief in unique orders or why they often come back to stages they have already visited. It is also now thought that a true acceptance may never be fully achieved for many. A