Anticipatory Grief: Vulnerability and Resiliency in Encore Women

This article explores the experiences of anticipatory grief in women in their mid-80s and beyond; women who are in Gene Cohen's (Citation2005) encore phase of aging. Women in this phase of life are quite vulnerable to multiple losses and frequently experience anticipatory grief. Since the emergence of the concept of anticipatory grief, or pre-loss grief, the literature has reflected a biomedical reductionist lens. This reframes a human reaction to a life experience as a medical problem, replete with measurement tools and a medical treatment focus. However, this narrow problem-centric approach is steadily being replaced by the concept of the holistic person-centered approach, a view that reframes the anticipated losses as challenges to be overcome, requiring the woman to call upon her stores of resilience. If her resilience is insufficient to support coping, she may exhibit behavioral changes like those exhibited by grieving individuals. Supportive professionals can facilitate growth by assisting the woman in identifying and participating in supportive activities that build resilience.