In human chemistry, a continuing bond is an attachment or bond to a deceased individual that is maintained rather than relinquished. [1]

The term was introduced in the 1996 book Continuing Bonds, a presentation of study results from several populations, presented by twenty-two authors. [2] In this book, edited by psychologists Dennis Klass, Phyllis Silverman, and Steven Nickman, findings showed that in actual practice people tend to maintain very real connections to the deceased, a view contrary to the standard dogma, supposedly promoted by Freudian psychologists, that it was healthier to completely break-off bonds from the deceased. The term ‘continuing bonds’ has since become something of a vogue theoretical concept in the psychology bereavement community, with yearly publications on the subject.

The general logic of continuity bonds, in theme, seems to be similar to American chemical engineer Libb Thims’ 2005 cessation conservation hypothesis, in which residual ‘energy signature’ of formerly active human chemical bonds remains following the termination of an individual.

References
1. Worden, J. William. (2008). Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy: a Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner (continuing bonds, pgs. 3-4, etc.). Springer.
2. Klass, D., Silverman, Phyllis R., and Nickman, S.L. (1996). Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Taylor & Francis.

Further reading
● Wallis, J. (2001). “Continuing Bonds: Relationship Between the Living and the Dead within Contemporary Spiritualism.” Morality, 6: 127-45.
● Field, N. P., Gal-Oz, e., and Bonanno, G.A. (2003). “Continuing Bonds and Adjustment at 5 Years after Death of a Spouse.” Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 71: 110-17.
● Field, N. P., Gao, B. I., and Paderna, L. (2005). “Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: an Attachment Theory Based Perspective”, Death Studies, 29: 277-99.
● Valentine, Christine. (2008). Bereavement Narratives: Continuing Bonds in the Twenty-first Century. Taylor & Francis.

External links
● Continuing bonds – Encyclopedia of Death and Dying.