Loss and Grief in Dementia

Section 3
3. Adjusting to a new environment: this means adjusting to a ‘new normal’ that has come about
as a result of the loss experienced. This may mean living with a person who is changed in some
way and adapting to changes that brings or it may mean adjusting to living without the person
if they have gone into care or learning to live without the person after they have died. This can
be challenging but it may also offer the bereaved person new opportunities.
4. Finding a new emotional place for the person who has died: this involves creating new
ways of remembering the person who has died, so that they continue to be part of the bereaved
person’s life (50).
Grief does not stay still. People who are grieving often cope by engaging with and detaching from
their grief. This means that at times they will want to talk about their losses and think about their
losses. At other times they need to be able to detach themselves from their loss and grief and
concentrate on other things.
As people make sense of their loss, they will move between the two strands shown in the model
below from Stroebe and Schut (56).
Loss (Grief) Orientated
the Grieving process
Restoration (Future) Orientated
Coping
with the
Loss
Coping
with my life
now as a
result of the
loss
Grief Work
Intrusion of grief
Breaking/Continuing/
Relocating bonds/ties
Denial/Avoidance of
Restoration Changes
Attending to life changes
Doing new things
Distraction from Grief
Denial/avoidance of Grief
New roles/identities/
relationships
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Loss and Grief in Dementia