A New Mourning: Synthesizing an Interactive Model of Adaptive Grieving Dynamics

Abstract

The human grieving response is neither categorically simple, nor is it a predictable linear process. A new paradigm of adaptive grieving is emerging in the grief and bereavement research literature that validates diversity of adaptive responses among grievers, yet suggests essential interrelated components of adaptive grieving. However, theoretical models that effectively synthesize and integrate current empirical knowledge regarding the components of adaptive grieving are lacking. This article proposes the model of adaptive grieving dynamics (MAGD)—which synthesizes four types of interrelated grieving responses by their adaptive function and incorporates them as essential components of an interactive, griever-centered model.