Grief and Mourning

Loss of anyone or anything valued—such as a person, object, relationship, expectation, or way of life, among countless other possibilities—stimulates in most people a variety of responses to that loss and attempts to cope with it. Grief and mourning are terms used to describe what happens in the aftermath of important loss. As such, they are intimately involved with the experience of trauma given that, by definition, in all trauma there is loss and in major loss there is trauma.

This entry focuses around four points. First, there is discussion regarding the historical and current distinctions between grief and mourning and their implications for the person experiencing the loss (hereinafter called the mourner). Then, the relationship between grief and mourning is explored. Next, there is analysis ...