Yes. Dreading the holidays after a death is a common reaction to loss. In a November 2025 American Psychiatric Association poll, 48% of U.S. adults said they were worried about missing someone or grief during the holidays. The same organization says grief symptoms begin to decrease over time for most people.
Why do the holidays feel so heavy after a death?
The holidays feel heavy after a death because the season runs on repetition. The same recipes, the same seats at the table, and the same songs return every year, and each one points toward the person who is missing. In the American Psychological Association’s article on grief during the holidays, Sherry Cormier, PhD, author of Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness After Loss and Grief, says the season “amplifies that everything is different than it used to be.”
That amplification shows up across the population. The American Psychiatric Association’s Healthy Minds Poll, fielded by Morning Consult on November 4 and 5, 2025, surveyed 2,203 U.S. adults. Of those, 48% said they were worried about missing someone or grief during the holidays. The poll asked all adults, not only people who were recently bereaved, so it shows how widespread the worry is rather than how common it is after a death specifically.
For a description of what grief itself can feel like, see What Does Grief Actually Feel Like?
Is the dread before a holiday often worse than the day itself?
Dread often starts well before the date, when invitations arrive or decorations go up. The American Psychological Association’s article on coping with grief during the holiday season says that how a person anticipates an event they believe may be stressful “almost always is worse than how it actually turns out.”
The same article lists planning questions for the days themselves. They include which traditions to skip, who to spend the day with, and whether an all-day celebration is manageable. It also suggests telling the host ahead of time that a stay may be short, and continuing a tradition the person who died shared with others.
These are suggestions from the American Psychological Association’s article, offered as general information. They are not a treatment plan, and they do not predict how any one holiday will go.
How long does holiday dread after a death usually last?
Grief does not follow a fixed schedule, and the dread tied to it varies from person to person. The American Psychiatric Association’s patient guide to prolonged grief disorder says that for most people, the symptoms of grief begin to decrease over time.
The same page estimates that 4% to 15% of bereaved adults experience the persistent symptoms of prolonged grief disorder. It describes the condition as intense and persistent grief symptoms that are distressing in themselves and associated with problems in functioning, and it says a diagnosis requires that the death occurred at least a year ago for adults. The page was physician-reviewed in August 2025.
Whether a person’s grief meets that definition is a question only a licensed clinician can answer. A hard first holiday season, taken alone, does not answer it.
What does this page not cover?
This page does not diagnose grief, prolonged grief disorder, or depression, and it does not replace care from a licensed clinician. It covers dread after a death. It does not cover losses such as divorce, estrangement, or infertility, and it does not address how grief differs by culture, faith, or age.
It also does not give step-by-step advice for planning traditions or handling family expectations. The full guide, How Do You Get Through the Holidays After a Loss?, covers those topics in depth.
The statistics on this page come from national polling and clinical reference material. They describe groups of people, not any one reader. Each statistic is linked to its source, with the source’s date stated in the text.
Frequently asked questions
Worry about missing someone during the holidays is widespread. The American Psychiatric Association’s November 2025 poll found 48% of U.S. adults reported it. The association describes prolonged grief disorder as intense, persistent symptoms associated with problems in functioning, and only a licensed clinician can assess whether grief meets that definition.
It can. In the American Psychological Association’s article, Sherry Cormier, PhD, says the holidays amplify how different everything feels after a loss, and grief does not follow a calendar. The American Psychiatric Association says symptoms begin to decrease over time for most people. How that unfolds differs from person to person.
People also describe grief after divorce, estrangement, and other losses. The statistics and definitions on this page concern bereavement after a death, so they do not answer that question directly. The full guide on getting through the holidays after a loss covers other kinds of loss as well.