Anticipatory Grief and Widowhood

Abstract

Lindemann (6) first used the term ‘anticipatory grief’. It referred to the separation of two people with one anticipating the death of the other and preparing for it to such an extent that on the return of the other there is rejection rather than happy acceptance. In his example a soldier returning from combat complained that his wife no longer loved him and was seeking a divorce. After seeing the man, Lindemann attributed the problem to the wife's ‘anticipatory grief. It seems there could be other explanations to his example.