Chronic Sorrow

Book excerpt: Grief and loss are burgeoning concerns for professional disciplines such as nursing, social work, family therapy, psychology, psychiatry, law, religion and medicine. Although understanding has increased in virtually all other areas of grief and loss, chronic sorrow has received scant attention. Chronic sorrow is a natural grief reaction to losses that are not final, but continue to be present in the life of the griever. This book views chronic sorrow in a life-span perspective, and reveals the effect on the griever and the people close to them. This book fills a void in the literature; and attempts to develop a comprehensive analysis of chronic sorrow that will secure its position within the field of grief and loss.