sorrow and anxiety experienced by someone who expects a loved one to die within a short period. The period of anticipatory grief can be regarded as having both stressful and constructive possibilities: It might cushion the emotional impact when the death actually occurs, but it could have the unfortunate consequence of leading a person to withdraw from the relationship, treating the other person as though he or she were already dead. See also complicated grief; traumatic grief. [introduced as a concept in 1944 by U.S. psychiatrist Erich Lindemann (1900–1974)]