Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T12:32:16.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anticipatory Grief: A Psychosocial Concept Reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Robert Fulton  and
David Jay Gottesman
Robert Fulton
Affiliation:
Center for Death Education and Research, University of Minnesota, 1167 Social Science Tower, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A.
David Jay Gottesman
Affiliation:
Center for Death Education and Research, University of Minnesota, 1167 Social Science Tower, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Formerly anticipatory grief was viewed as a potential coping mechanism for a prospective loss. More recently it has been studied in preventive psychiatry as a determinant of the severity of post-mortem grief. The authors in a critical analysis of methodological and theoretical inconsistencies recommend a reconsideration of the concept within a psychosocial context.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 137 , Issue 1 , June 1980 , pp. 45 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ball, J. F. (1977) Widow's grief: the impact of age and mode of death. Omega, 7, 307–33.Google Scholar
Binger, C. M., Ablin, A. R., Feuerstein, R. C., Kushner, J. H., Zooer, S. & Mikkelsen, C. (1969) Childhood leukemia: emotional impact on patient and family. New England Journal of Medicine, 280, 414–18.Google Scholar
Binik, Y. M. (1977) A note on the term sudden death. Omega, 8, 41–4.Google Scholar
Bornstein, P. E., Clayton, P., Halikas, J. A., Maurice, W. L. & Robins, E. (1973) The depression of widowhood after thirteen months. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 561–6.Google Scholar
Bozeman, M. F., Orbach, C. E. & Sutherland, A. M. (1955) Psychological impact of cancer and its treatment. Cancer, 8, 1–19.Google Scholar
Caplan, G. (1974) Foreword in The First Tear of Bereavement, (eds. Glick, I. C., Weiss, R. S. and Parkes, C. M.). New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Clayton, P. J., Halikas, J. A. & Maurice, W. L. (1971) The bereavement of the widowed. Diseases of the Nervous System, 32, 597–604.Google Scholar
Clayton, P. J., Halikas, J. A. & Maurice, W. L. (1972) The depression of widowhood. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 71–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clayton, P. J., Halikas, J. A., Maurice, W. L. & Robins, E. (1973) Anticipatory grief and widowhood. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 47–51.Google Scholar
Davidson, G. (1975) The waiting vulture syndrome. In Bereavement: Its Psychosocial Aspects, (eds. Schoenberg, B., Gerber, I., Wiener, A., Kutscher, A. H., Peretz, D. and Carr, A. C.). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Eliot, T. D. (1946) War bereavements and their recovery. Marriage and Family Living, 8, 1–6.Google Scholar
Engel, G. L. (1961) Is grief a disease? Psychosomatic Medicine, 23, 18–22.Google Scholar
Epstein, G., Weitz, L., Roback, H. & McKee, E. (1975) Research on bereavement: a selective and critical review. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 16, 537–46.Google Scholar
Feifel, H. (1977) New Meanings of Death. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Folta, J. R. & Deck, E. F. (1973) Social reconstruction after death. Tribuna Medica, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1899) Premonitory dreams fulfilled. In Standard Edition, 5, 623–5. London: Hogarth Press, 1957.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1916) On transcience. In Standard Edition, 14, 305–7. London: Hogarth Press, 1957.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1917) Mourning and melancholia. In Collected Papers, Vol. 4. New York: Basic Books, 1959.Google Scholar
Friedman, S. B., Chodoff, P., Mason, J. W. & Hamburg, D. B. (1963) Behaviorial observations on parents anticipating the death of a child. Pediatrics, 32, 610–22.Google Scholar
Friedman, S. B. (1967) Care of the family of the child with cancer. Pediatrics, 40 (Supplement 3), 498–504.Google Scholar
Fulton, R. & Fulton, J. (1971) A psychosocial aspect of terminal care: anticipatory grief. Omega, 2, 91–9.Google Scholar
Fulton, R. (1979) Anticipatory grief, stress, and the surrogate griever. In Cancer, Stress, and Death, (ed. Taché, J. et al). Plenum Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Gerber, I. (1974) Anticipatory bereavement. In Anticipatory Grief, (ed. Schoenberg, B., Carr, A. C., Kutscher, A. H., Peretz, D. and Goldberg, I.). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Gerber, I., Rusalem, R., Hannon, Natalie, Battin, D. & Arkin, A. (1975) Anticipatory grief and aged widows and widowers. Journal of Gerontology, 30 (2), 225–9.Google Scholar
Glick, I. O., Webs, R. S. & Parkes, C. M. (1974) The First Tear of Bereavement. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Goody, J. (1962) Death, Property and the Ancestors: A Study of the Mortuary Customs of the Lodagaa of West Africa. California: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gorer, G. (1965) Death, Grief, and Mourning. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Gut, E. (1974) Some aspects of adult mourning. Omega, 5, 323–41.Google Scholar
Hilgard, J., Newman, M. & Fisk, F. (1959) Strength of adult ego following childhood bereavement. American Journal of Psychiatry, 30, 788–98.Google Scholar
Knapp, V. S. & Hansen, H. (1973) Helping the parents of children with leukaemia. Social Work, 18, 70–5.Google Scholar
Lehrman, S. R. (1956) Reactions to untimely death. Psychiatric Quarterly, 30, 567.Google Scholar
Lindemann, E. (1944) The symptomatology and management of acute grief. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 141–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopata, H. Z. (1973) Widowhood in an American City. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Schenkman Publishing.Google Scholar
Lopata, H. Z. (1979) Women as Widows' Support Systems. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Maddison, D. (1968) The relevance of conjugal bereavement for preventive psychiatry. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 41, 223–33.Google Scholar
Maddison, D. & Viola, A. (1968) The health of widows in the year following bereavement. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 12, 297–306.Google Scholar
Maddison, D. & Walker, W. L. (1967) Factors affecting the outcome of conjugal bereavement. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 1057–67.Google Scholar
Maddison, D. (1968) The relevance of conjugal bereavement for preventive psychiatry. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 41, 223–33.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, D. G. (1959) Social uses of funeral rites. In The Meaning of Death, (ed. Herman Feifel, ). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Mortimer, J. T. & Simmons, R. G. (1978) Adult socialization. Annual Review of Sociology, 4, 421–54.Google Scholar
Natterson, J. M. & Knudson, A. G. Jr. (1960) Observations concerning fear of death in fatally ill children and their mothers. Psychosomatic Medicine, 22, 465–65.Google Scholar
Owen, G. & Fulton, R. (1978) Death at a Distance. Center for Death Education and Research, University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1964) Effects of bereavement on physical and mental health—a study of the medical records of widows. British Medical Journal, ii, 274–9.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. (1975) Determinants of outcome following bereavement. Omega, 6, 303–23.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. M. & Brown, R. J. (1972) Health after bereavement: a controlled study of young Boston widows and widowers. Psychosomatic Medicine, 34, 449–61.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. (1951) The Social System. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Pollock, G. H. (1961) Mourning and adaptation. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 42, 341–61.Google Scholar
Richmond, J. B. & Waisman, H. A. (1955) Psychologic aspects of management of children with malignant diseases. American Journal of Diseases in Children, 89, 42–7.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, M. (1944) Emotional aspects of wartime separations. The Family, 24, 337–41.Google Scholar
Rosenblatt, P. C., Walsh, R. P. & Jackson, D. A. (1976) Grief and Mourning in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Human Relations Area Files Press.Google Scholar
Schwab, J. J., Chalmers, J. M., Conroy, S. J., Farris, P. B. & Markush, R. E. (1975) Studies in grief: a preliminary report. In Bereavement: Its Psychosocial Aspects, (ed. Schoenberg, B., Gerber, I., Wiener, A., Kutscher, A. H., Peretz, D. and Carr, A. C.). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Silverman, P. R. (1974) Anticipatory grief from the perspective of widowhood. In Anticipatory Grief, (eds. Schoenberg, B., Carr, A. C., Kutscher, A. H., Peretz, D. and Goldberg, I.). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Toffler, A. (1970) Future Shock. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Vachon, M. L. S., Freedman, K., Formo, A., Rogers, J., Lyall, W. A. L. & Freeman, S. J. J. (1977) The final illness in cancer: the widow's perspective. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 117, 1151–4.Google Scholar
Volkart, E. H. & Mitchell, S. T. (1957) Bereavement and mental health. In Explorations in Social Psychiatry. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Vollman, R. R., Ganzert, A., Picher, L. & Williams, W. V. (1971) The reactions of family systems to sudden and unexpected death. Omega, 2, 101–6.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.