Psycho-social transitions: A field for study

In drawing together ideas from stress research, crisis studies and loss research a new and more satisfactory conceptual field has emerged—the field of Psycho-social Transitions. Such situations are seen as turning points for better or worse psycho-social adjustment. They often constitute natural experiments of great theoretical and practical importance. Grief is seen as a process of “realization” by means of which affectional bonds are severed and old models of the word and the self given up. It tends to be avoided and accounts for resistance to change and depressive reactions to change.