Broken heart
For most bereaved individuals, the journey through grief will ultimately culminate in an acceptable level of adjustment to a life without their loved one. The Kübler-Ross model postulates that there are five stages of grief after the loss of a loved-one: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. And while it is recognized that mourners go through initial period of numbness leading to depression and finally to reorganization and recovery, most modern grief specialists recognize the variations and fluidity of grief experiences differ considerably in intensity and length among cultural groups, individually from person to person as well as depending on the amount of investment put into the relationship.
Prolonged grief disorder
Although extremely painful, grief is the normal process of accommodating to a new life without the deceased loved one. Most bereaved survivors manage to get through the worst of their grief and continue to function and find meaning in life. Normal grief differs from PGD in that it is not as intense, persistent, disabling and life-altering and is not experienced as a severe threat to the survivor's identity, sense of self-worth, feeling of security, safety or hopes for future happiness. Although normal grief remains with the bereaved person far into the future, its ability to disrupt the survivor's life dissipates with time.