RESEARCH_FILE
The Grief Work Assumption
The grief work assumption is the belief that recovering from loss requires deliberately confronting and 'processing' the pain, and that failing to do so leads to delayed or pathological grief. Reviews of the evidence found this assumption unsupported: distress is not universal after loss, low distress does not predict later breakdown, and intensive 'working through' is not necessary for adjustment.
How it sounds in your head
The inner script: 'I went back to work a week after the funeral and I feel mostly fine — something must be wrong with me, I'm not doing the work.' The data say feeling mostly fine is the most common outcome, not a debt that comes due later.