How long does grief suppose to last? 

DR. TATE’S ANSWER

Thanks for your question!

When will it be over? Unfortunately, there is no simple and clear answer. There are too many variables to predict with any accuracy how long someone will be in grief. Every griever is unique, as measured by their personality, their coping behaviors, their previous experiences with grief, their relationship with the one who died, and many other factors. Every experience of loss is also unique, including how expected the death was, and whether or not someone was responsible for the death, to name just a few of the variables.

One’s religious faith, one’s support system (or lack thereof), the ability to participate in funeral rituals — these and many other factors influence each individual’s grieving process. So to offer an honest answer is this: grief will last as long as it is supposed to last. Usually, grief is a self-limiting process. It will end when it naturally comes to a conclusion. For some people and some relationships, that may be a matter of a few months. For others grief may be measured in years: perhaps one or two for certain kinds of deaths, or even three to five years for more serious or unexpected traumatic deaths. There is a sense in which certain grief may never end, depending on the extent of one’s loss.