Data at last. It seems that denial isn't what it's supposed to be.  
Instead, it's acceptance all the way (well, most of the way) down. 

See:

 Maciejewski, P. et al (2007, February 21, actually). An Empirical 
Examination of the Stage Theory of Grief. JAMA. 2007;297:716-723

Their results show that "counter to stage theory, disbelief [denial--SB] 
was not the initial, dominant grief indicator. Acceptance was the most 
frequently endorsed item and yearning was the dominant negative grief 
indicator from 1 to 24 months postloss"

They conclude that "in the circumstance of natural death, the normal 
response involves primarily acceptance and yearning for the deceased".

Are grief counsellors going to change their tune? I wouldn't bet on it.

Read the full story (free!) here:

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/297/7/716

Stephen

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.          
Department of Psychology     
Bishop's University                e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2600 College St.
Sherbrooke QC  J1M 0C8
Canada

Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at
http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

---
To make changes to your subscription go to:
http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english

Reply via email to