The problem with this monomyth is that people feel they are not normal when they do not experience a linear set of obstacles. Or they feel like failures because they have not “overcome” grief or achieved some enlightened state. Friends, family members, and even doctors may worry when there is no clear return of a wise hero. Holland and Neimeyer conducted an empirical study that looked for the five stages and found that adaptation is not so linear or orderly. Grief distress is usually more pronounced in folks who have been grieving for a shorter period of time. But the distress includes all
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