In his work on bereavement, Colin Parkes has placed this topic of loss in a larger context with these eloquent words:

"In the ongoing flux of life human beings undergo many changes. Every change involves a loss and a gain. In all these situations individuals are faced with the need to give up one mode of life and accept another. If they identify the change as a gain, acceptance may not be hard, but when it is a loss or a 'mixed blessing' they will do their best to resist the change."

Parkes contends that this resistance to change, this reluctance to give up possessions, or people, or status, or expectations - is a major basis for grief

Copyright 2000