RESEARCH_FILE
Dennis Klass
Webster University (Professor Emeritus)
Known for:The continuing bonds framework — grief as an ongoing relationship, not detachment
Key findings
- 1996
Bereaved people commonly maintain inner relationships with the deceased — through memory, ritual, conversation and felt presence — and these continuing bonds are typically a healthy resource, contradicting the detachment model of grief resolution. Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief ↗
- 2018
Two decades on, continuing bonds research shows the bond takes different forms across cultures and eras — including through social media — and that its healthiness depends on how it is integrated into the mourner's life, not on whether it exists. Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice ↗