Grieving and Mourning: Distinctions in Process

Abstract

Psychothanatologists have begun to question the idea that the grieving process has a definitive ending in recovery and renewal, and instead, they are considering growing evidence that suggests that for some persons, the grieving process extends into the mourning process, which itself may extend throughout a person's lifetime. This article offers a number of distinctions between grieving and mourning which speak to the former as a short-term passive process and the latter as an active, long-term process—a process that involves a profound transformation of our assumptions about self in the world, a search for meaning in the loss, and the creation of and interaction with an inner representation of the deceased. These findings have profound implications for the practice of grief counseling and caregiving in the face of significant loss.