How to Navigate Anticipatory Grief (opens in new tab)

When my mother was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, it was the most difficult time of my life. Not only was I dealing with her care, but I was anticipating her slow, inevitable decline and death. I was living in a kind of betwixt and between, trying to balance caring for her, my young children, and my patients, while feeling palpable grief for what I was about to lose. This is what’s known as “anticipatory grief”—a reaction to loss that hasn’t yet occurred. While it’s fairly common to exper...