Grieving before the actual loss occurs, often experienced in cases of chronic illness or the prospect of children leaving home.

Grief that is not socially acknowledged or supported by friends, family, or society such as an instance of the loss of a pet or the loss of a career in the case of retirement. This type of grief can also include loss that is stigmatized like in the case of suicide or substance use. Other types of loss such as those resulting from religious or cultural trauma be diminished or disregarded by others in society, even though they are significant to the individual or group experiencing the grief.

Also known as complicated grief, your sadness persists for a long time, sometimes years, and you continue to have difficulty coping as the grief interferes with daily life.

Shock or denial can lead to the absence of feeling grief when you experience devastating loss. Likewise, rather than experiencing feelings of grief immediately following a loss, emotions may be delayed for weeks or months. This can be especially true for those who are making arrangements following the death of a loved one.

You move through the stages of grief quickly, often because you’ve done much of the emotional work before experiencing the loss. Loss from chronic illness, recent retirement, and losing a very advanced-age parent are some situations that may lead to abbreviated grief. 

While grief is often felt on a personal level, grief can also be felt collectively, by a group, a community, a nation, or a culture. Shared experiences like mass shootings, wars, natural disasters, and pandemics lead to many people experiencing grief together. Collective grief Sometimes loss can affect a nation, a people, a culture, or the entire world. This community-level form of grief is known as collective grief. (2)