The concept of grief: An analysis of classical and contemporary thought

Grief has been a topic of focused inquiry for a number of years. However, in spite of the attention given to this significant aspect of human existence, progress in gaining a clear understanding of grief has been relatively slow. This situation is at least partially due to the existence of a conceptual problem concerning the definition of grief making it difficult to identify a grief response and to differentiate among grief and a variety of related concepts. Persons interested in grief have had to rely on their individual interpretations of the concept and, as a result, have generated a plethora of confusing terms to address the experience. In this article, the results of a systematic inquiry to define grief as a concept are presented. The findings provide a synthesis of existing thought, suggestions for the reconceptualization of grief and grief outcomes, and guidelines for further study.