Rather than focusing on a psychological perspective that emphasizes individual deficiencies in dealing with loss, we use a sociological perspective to guide both an understanding of and clinical work with grieving people. The use of deviance and anomie as theoretical and clinical tools is a natural progression of the work begun with Doka's (1989) introduction of the concepts disenfranchised grief and grieving rules. Our approach encourages both theorists and clinicians to rethink the use of terms such as “complicated,” “abnormal,” and “pathological” grief.
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