ABSTRACT
For many years, prevailing descriptions of bereavement suggested that grief is a time-limited process, beginning with the death and ending when the grieving person has “relinquished ties to” (Freud, 1957) or has become “emancipated from” the person who died (Lindemann, 1944). More recent theorists also supported this view (Bowlby, 1980; Raphael, 1983; Parkes, 1986). It was assumed for many years that the grieving process should be complete within a year or two at the most. This view originated in Lindemann’s classic work (1944), where he indicated that grieving individuals are “back to normal” within less than a year, and sometimes within as little as six weeks following the death. Evidence of distress after the first year or two is most often interpreted negatively, sometimes even as evidence of pathological grieving. Such individuals are perceived as not “letting go” and are criticized for hanging on to the past and for not getting on with their lives. But few studies of bereavement have extended beyond the first year or two following the death.
