ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the three essential concepts: bereavement, grief, and mourning. It reviews several key classical theories that have been used to explain grief, including the concept of "grief work." The chapter looks at some problems associated with the classical models. It explores revelations from "the new science of bereavement research" and briefly looks at mourning from a cross-cultural perspective. The chapter discusses "telling the tale"—what people seem to do naturally to keep the memories of their loved ones alive. According to Freud, grief work—emphasis on work—involves getting past one's resistance, facing the realities of loss through a series of confrontations, freeing oneself from the strong emotional ties to the lost person, and opening oneself to new life and new experience. Parents whose loss occurs from illness have a much longer period of time to contemplate the ultimate possibility of death.
