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Grief, Loss, and Stress

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A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response

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Abstract

Death is the unavoidable endpoint of a terminal life. Since death is inevitable, grief is not only predictable but also likely to occur repeatedly during the course of someone’s life. Despite being ubiquitous, grief is also mercurial, and may evince its qualities uniquely and at various times. For example, grief may begin at the thought of someone’s death, it may occur well after someone has died, or it may occur for losses other than the loss of life. According to Holmes and Rahe (1967), who developed the Life Stress Inventory, the death of a spouse is the highest weighted life change event (i.e., stressful event) that an individual can experience. The purpose of this chapter is to review the terms associated with grief, the classic stage-based theories related to grief, the construct of prolonged or complicated grief, stress-related symptoms and prolonged grief, and intervention considerations for grief and loss with adults and children.

Everyone can master grief but he who has it

Shakespeare

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Severna Park, MD, USA

    George S. Everly Jr.

  2. Loyola University Mayland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jeffrey M. Lating

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Everly, G.S., Lating, J.M. (2013). Grief, Loss, and Stress. In: A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5538-7_20

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