ABSTRACT
In 1944, the sociologist Lindemann described bereavement on a massive scale in the wake of the disastrous Coconut Grove Fire from which study emerged the Pentateuchal signs of bereavement: somatic disturbance, preoccupation with the image of the dead, guilt, hostility, and disorganized behavior. Theorists from many disciplines have attempted to understand the process of letting go by studying first the ultimate loss—death. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, in her seminal studies of the dying, described five sequential or occasionally recurrent stages in the journey of unwinding this mortal coil, Kubler-Ross characterized the dying patient as progressing through a quintet of progressive adaption to loss which included: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The form and intensity of grief experienced and displayed is the result of a complex interplay between "trauma" and "traumatized"—between all of those factors inherent to the loss itself and all of those strengths and weaknesses inherent in the individual experiencing the loss.
