Abstract
Of all the sources of suffering in human life, the encounter with the tragic deaths of loved ones must be among the most compelling. Adopting the view that grieving involves as a central process the attempt to reaffirm or reconstruct a world of meaning that has been challenged by loss, I briefly review the evidence linking an anguished search for meaning to complicated, prolonged and life-limiting forms of grief, and the capacity to make sense of the loss to improved adaptation. I then present several concrete implementations of this perspective in case vignettes of work with grieving clients, illustrating the use of restorative retelling and directed journaling in helping clients integrate the “event story” of the loss itself, and the use of imaginal dialogues and legacy work on reaffirming the positive “back story” of their relationship with their loved one. I close with a coda on the role and limits of meaning reconstruction as a framework for pluralistic practice in alleviating grief-related suffering, and encourage readers to explore its relevance for their own work as therapists.
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Neimeyer, R.A. (2017). Grief Therapy as Intervening in Meaning: Principles and Practices. In: Anderson, R. (eds) Alleviating World Suffering. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 67. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51391-1_10
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