Included in these steps are denial, depression, anger, bargaining, and eventually, in a healthy system, acceptance. Early grief work often focuses on the earlier steps. When I work with clients, I tell them that I see two stages of loss. There is that early stage, the shock. It often feels, physically, as if a knife were stabbed into your chest.
People report waking up in the morning, and for the first few seconds feeling refreshed, hopeful.
Suddenly reality hits, and that stabbing pain returns. It takes the breath away. The intensity may be less, but the ache is still there. In my opinion, early grief work helps a client deal with that initial intensity, that shock. Later grief work, beyond the first year, teaches the person how to live with the dull ache.