The topic I have chosen for this proposal later is “The Cycle of Mourning, How Grief and Anxiety Meet”.

Problem & Campaign Purpose

Contemporary grief research presents that mourning is non-linear, oscillatory, and identity-disruptive, rather than a fixed progression of stages (Margaret Stroebe & Henk Schut, 1999; Robert A. Neimeyer, 2001). Despite this, social narratives continue to frame grief as something to "fix" or "move on" from, creating a mismatch between lived experience and cultural expectation.

This misalignment can contribute to psychological strain. Research shows that acute grief is characterised by a broad loss of psychophysiological regulation, producing symptoms including anxiety, disrupted sleep, and difficulty concentrating that reflect the profound stress of bereavement on the body and mind (Mary-Frances O'Connor, 2019). Research done on neuroimaging further demonstrates that grief engages the systems in the brain that are associated with attachment, reward, and pain processing, helping to explain why loss and anxiety so often feel intertwined (O'Connor et al., 2008). The relationship between grief and anxiety is therefore closely linked to overlapping neurobiological and stress response mechanisms (Shear & Skritskaya, 2012).

Additionally, forms of grief that are not socially recognised, defined as disenfranchised grief (Kenneth Doka, 1989), are more likely to be internalised - increasing vulnerability to anxiety and emotional isolation.

<aside>

Campaign Purpose: To reframe grief as a valid, ongoing, and multifaceted experience, while making visible its connection to anxiety - thereby reducing stigma, normalising emotional variability, and encouraging healthier emotional processing.

</aside>

Main Target Audience

Primary audience: Young adults (18–30), particularly university students and early-career individuals.

Rationale:

• This group is navigating identity formation and instability — a period characterised by heightened exploration and uncertainty — making them more susceptible to the identity disruption described by (Neimeyer, 2001; Arnett, 2000).
• They may be more likely to encounter forms of disenfranchised grief (e.g., breakups, friendships, ambiguous loss) that often go unacknowledged (Doka, 1989).
• Social media reshapes the social norms around mourning and creates pressure around the visibility and perceived duration of grief, which can intensify feelings of inadequacy in those whose grief is ongoing or non-linear (Walter, 2015; Wagner, 2018).

Secondary audience: Peers, friends, and support networks — those who influence how grief is acknowledged or dismissed.

Core Message

"Grief doesn't end. It changes — and sometimes, it feels like anxiety."

Supporting message pillars:

• Grief is not linear (Stroebe & Schut, 1999)
• You don't have to "move on" to function (Continuing Bonds; Klass et al., 1996)
• Feeling anxious after loss is a natural response, not a personal failure