ABSTRACT
Since grief results from the severance of bonds it would be surprising if atypical or pathological grief were not sometimes the consequence of the severance of atypical bonds. And since atypical attachments in adult life are often thought to result from atypical parenting in childhood it would be surprising if there were not some causal connection between parenting and the pattern of grieving. Support for this claim comes from Sable’s (1989) study of 81 widows who had lost their husbands 1-3 years previously. She found that ‘those women who described more secure early attachment were handling bereavement better, they had less distress at the time of the loss and showed better adjustment for both outcome factors, depression and anxiety’.
