ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of popular and contemporary bereavement theories, conceptual ideas of the process of grief and its accommodation in the life of mourners, and looks at the relationship between grief and trauma. The phenomena of bereavement and grief are recognized as common across human cultures. To Raphael, factors affecting the outcome of bereavement include: the pre-existing relationship between the bereaved and the deceased, the type of death, the response of the family and social network, concurrent stress or crises, previous losses, and sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, religion, culture, occupation and economic position. Focusing on the British hospice movement and bereavement counseling, Walter relates current death, funeral, and bereavement practices to social theories of modernity and post-modernity. Accommodation of bereavement within one’s life involves processes identified by Weiss as cognitive acceptance, emotional acceptance, and identity change.
