Grief does not consist of seeing pain diminish or disappear over time, but rather of building one's life around that pain so that it occupies a proportionally smaller space.

noli's read

This model, often referred to as the 'ball in the box' model in psychology, is a widely used visual metaphor for illustrating adaptation to grief. Contrary to older linear theories of grief (such as the 5 stages of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross), contemporary research, notably work on the 'Dual Process Model' by Stroebe et Schut (meta-analysis published in 'Clinical Psychology Review'), confirms that grief is not a linear process of diminishing sorrow. The evidence supports the idea that adaptation involves an oscillatory movement between loss-orientation and restoration-orientation, which validates the concept of 'building a life around' grief. The point emphasizing that pain does not fade is consistent with observational studies on prolonged grief. There is no exaggeration here, but rather an effective therapeutic popularization of a concept widely recognized by clinicians to reduce the guilt associated with the persistence of suffering.

the sources

No named source held this one up — that absence is part of the verdict.