Bridging the differences in care for grieving people: Worden’s differentiation between grief counseling and grief therapy
Abstract
Worden's (1982, 2018) landmark textbook on caring for bereaved individuals differentiated grief counseling from grief therapy, defining the former as the efforts of both professional and lay caregivers to support bereaved people in normal grief. Grief therapy, he posited, is the more structured intervention offered by credentialed caregivers to support individuals coping with a more complicated experience of mourning. In this article, the authors explain Worden's perspective, describe his types of complicated mourning for which grief therapy might be warranted, and offer clinical application to the approaches Worden takes.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Grief
Bereavement
and Mental Health
Counseling
Therapy
and Family Dynamics
Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Death Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Pages
- 1–7
- Publication date
- 14 February 2026
- Language
- EN