This helps them begin the process of accepting their own inevitable death. Consider Anticipatory Grief Today, with a longer period of time from the diagnosis of a terminal disease to the time of death, people often have time to consider death and grief before the loved one dies. Anticipatory grief lowers the degree and intensity of grief at the time of death of a family member. Family members may work through their grief without a death having occurred. They may emancipate themselves from the emotional bondage to the deceased and subsequently develop new emotional attachments.
Anticipatory grief can have positive and negative effects on the family.
Accepting death as a natural part of life is positive. This is not to say the elderly person is not valued, but has to do with expectation and the reality of death. On the other hand, anticipatory griefhas the potential for causing misunderstandings. When intimate family members grieve with the dying person, they may reach acceptance before those members who live some distance away do. When the death occurs, the distant relatives might judge the closer ones critically for expressing little emotion.