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.
Tu Nidito
The developmental stage of the child affects their understanding of death and grief, making it essential for support programs to focus on the needs of the specific age groups. Young children from ages 2–7 generally do not understand the finality of death. They may believe in magical thinking and the reversibility of death. This may make them wish the deceased to come back to life and not show signs of grieving. They may feel guilty and believe that they caused the disease (Webb, 2010). For children ages 7–11, this is the latency age. They may be in denial and pretend the death did not occur. Their inability to deal with death may cause an increased fear of death, (Webb, 2010). For children in the pre-pubertal stage (9-12), feelings of helplessness, guilt and anger may be experienced (Webb, 2010). Support groups specific for these different ages can address these different concerns. Tu Nidito separates their support groups based on ages around the ages where these differences in understanding occur.