Continuing bonds — ongoing relationship with the deceased

The twentieth-century view of healthy grief as gradual letting go has been substantially revised by contemporary research, which finds that maintaining ongoing bonds with the deceased — talking to them, including them in family celebrations, continuing to be influenced by them — is not pathological but is, for many people, part of healthy integration. Different cultures have always known this; the psychological tradition is catching up. This domain examines what continuing bonds are, how they function, and how to cultivate them consciously.