Types of Grief Part II

Anticipatory grief is the type of grief that you experience when let’s say someone has a terminal illness, or an advanced level of addiction where no type of intervention has helped. One is simply waiting for that person to pass away, almost as if one is in a state of suspended animation. It is grief that is not sudden, not shocking, yet still upsetting, but also, as was the case with my elderly sick mom also a sense of release when they are not longer in pain, in suffering.

Distorted grief is the type of grief that carries lots of guilt, and anger and can occur if for example you hear of someone passing that from your past and maybe you didn’t part ways on the best of terms and you feel great guilt, anger that lingers. It’s guilt that doesn’t quite make sense in respect to the level of relationship.

Disenfranchised is the type of grief that is perhaps out of the norm. If a kid loses a pet, you expect grief, but if it goes on too long and gets worse and worse, then that has something else going on besides just the death of a pet. What’s really going on need to be looked at. There is some root other than just the pet passing that is going on.

Exaggerated grief is the type that starts out as normal grief, but something triggers it so it grows worse over time. It seems to escalate with time and doesn’t make sense to others why this escalation is occurring. It is an unhealthy escalation over time.

It may not always be easy to spot what type of grief is going on, so I hope these descriptions help you identify in yourself and others what type it is.