Stages of Grief
Despite these differences between individuals’ experiences, there seem to be a number of stages and emotions in the grieving process that are common, and which mix and merge from day to day, and even moment to moment. The stages are sometimes presented as an impact stage, a recoil stage, and finally a readjustment stage, but other models concentrate on the wide range of emotions of grief to build up a composite picture of grief. These include: shock, denial, anger, guilt, relief, sadness, despair, anxiety, and, eventually, readjustment built on acceptance and strength drawn from the memories of the good times you had with your loved one.
It has been suggested that this ‘logical’ ordering of stages and emotions is superficial. This is probably the case. Reactions to death are not straightforward, and appear to involve a waxing and waning of all of these different states and emotions in a rollercoaster interplay of bewilderment and pain. Nevertheless, they are convenient labels which are useful in describing different states of grief, and for this reason I use them here.
