ABSTRACT
Probably the most logical place to begin trying to understand complicated (problematic, ‘abnormal’, or pathological) grief is to remind ourselves of what major theories and models tell us about uncomplicated (‘normal’) grief. In most of the accounts mentioned in the previous paragraph, the focus is on healthy grieving, with the nature of abnormal or complicated grief being implicit. The dual process model provides a framework for understanding complicated or pathological forms of grief such as chronic, absent, or inhibited. In both loss-oriented e.g. chronic and restoration-oriented (e.g. absent) types of complicated grief, reactions are extreme, focusing excessively on one orientation and avoiding the other. In general terms, complicated grief (CG) can be understood as something like a ‘derailing’ of the normal, usually painful process of adapting to the loss of a significant person. Similarly, there’s no sharp dichotomy between CG and uncomplicated grief (UCG): it’s largely a matter of degree.
