SEARCHING FOR THE MEANING OF MEANING: GRIEF THERAPY AND THE PROCESS OF RECONSTRUCTION

“…This contrast between the majority of grievers who seek meaning in the death and the minority who apparently do not might re¯ ect their di erential emphasis on what Stroebe and Schut (1999) have referred to as ‘‘loss-oriented’’ and ‘‘restoration-oriented’’ processes in adjustment to bereavement.”

“Additionally, Neimeyer (2000) concluded that 38% of individuals receiving counseling for grief had worse outcomes than those receiving no treatment.”

“These results are consistent with Neimeyer’s work on meaning reconstruction (Neimeyer, 2000, 2001).”

“Neimeyer (2000) defined grief-related meaning reconstruction to include the following six features: . discovery or creation of new meaning in the survivor’s life and=or the death of the loved one wherein beliefs, identity components=‘‘self-narratives,’’ and worldviews are relearned for existence in…”

“There is even evidence that greater mental health is associated with resilience to both loss and severe trauma, and interventions that seek to help those with resilient trajectories process the loss could be iatrogenic (G. Bonanno, 2004; Neimeyer, 2000).”

“formed by trained mental health professionals or volunteer community organizations (Forte, Barrett, & Campbell, 1996; Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Neimeyer (2000) offers the concept “meaning reconstruction” to include finding new meaning after experiencing a loss.”

“Davis, Nolen-Hoeksema, and Larsen (as cited in Neimeyer, 2000) also concluded that for the bereaved in the study, making some kind of meaning of the loss was more important than how it made sense or what benefits it brought.”

“Social constructivist models of grief describe postbereavement narratives as contextual processes that include tacit, preverbal structures as well as the specific content of conscious cognition (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Meaning making is a theoretical framework that speaks to grief and guides this topic.(22,23) In the meaning-making framework, parents strive to find a sense of meaning after their child’s death and to ‘‘preserve the significance of their child’s life.”

“The process of healthy grieving has also been found to be facilitated by the ability to make sense of losing a loved one (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“This has been attributed to individuals’ capacity to make meaning (Neimeyer, 2000) through the construction of narrative (Neimeyer, Burk, Mackay, & van Dyke Stringer, 2010).”

“…individual’s attempts to “make sense” of the loss, whether by integrating it with preexisting beliefs about the world, identifying some benefit in the loss, or simply constructing a coherent narrative that includes the fact of the loss (e.g., Davis, NolenHoeksema, & Larson, 1998; Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Therefore, efforts have been made to develop specialized treatments for PGD, such as grief meaning reconstruction therapy (Neimeyer, 2000), prolonged grief therapy (PGT) (previously called complicated grief treatment) (Shear et al., 2005, 2014, 2016; Shear & Gribbin Bloom, 2017),…”

“Death, whether due to personal or natural suffering, appears to question and shake the worldview of anyone including God’s role in the universe and one’s life (Neimeyer, 2000; Worden & Winokuer, 2011).”

“Studies supported its feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness (Neimeyer, 2000; Lichtenthal, 2010; Lichtenthal et al., 2011, 2013, 2019; Lichtenthal and Breitbart, 2015).”

“However, the person is compelled to make sense of these tragedies (Neimeyer, 2000) and discover one’s purpose in responding to these conditions.”

“…between making sense and finding benefit as the two components of meaning-making reveals that better adjustment is associated with whether meaning-making accompanies the loss and suggests that benefit-finding is a later development than sensemaking in the process of grieving (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Creating something positive from tragedy and re-orienting one’s sense of purpose are forms of makingmeaning: a process that accompanies grief for the majority of people who are bereaved by trauma (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Holland, Currie, and Neimeyer (2006) have stated that:”

“(Rubin, 1981, 1999), and constructive perspectives that consider meaning-making processes and reconstruction of the relationship after loss (Neimeyer, 2000; Neimeyer, Klass, & Dennis, 2014; Servaty-Seib, 2004).”

“MCAASHV is based on extant literature related to African American experiences of homicide (Neimeyer, 2000; Sharpe & Boyas, 2011; Stroebe et al., 1992) and has also been validated in follow-up studies (Morris & Scott, 2022; Sharpe et al., 2023; Sharpe & Iwamoto, 2022).”

“However, college students are likely less aware of research suggesting that a majority of people are resilient and cope with grief without the need for counseling (Bonanno, 2004; Kato & Mann, 1999; Neimeyer, 2000).”

“According to Neimeyer (2000), religious rituals and spiritual beliefs are fundamental parts of the meaning-making process, and having religious faith could offer explanations of death.”

“Family roles were often restructured after migration as those left behind had to take on the roles of family members who left, emphasizing the systemic repercussions of migration (Neimeyer, 2000; Mar-chetti-Mercer, 2012b).”

“…literature, several reviews do not support the effectiveness of grief interventions provided shortly after the death (e.g., Allumbaugh & Hoyt, 1999; Neimeyer, 2000; Wittouck et al., 2011), and that it possibly interferes with natural “healing processes” following loss and trauma (e.g., Litz, Gray,…”

“However, Neimeyer (2000) notes that not all bereaved people endeavour to make meaning of their loss.”

“Given grief therapy can be bene fi cial for individuals who are experiencing prolonged grief symptoms (e.g. Neimeyer, 2000; Prigerson et al., 2021; Stroebe et al., 2005), it is vital that individuals grieving the loss of someone who committed a severe crime feel they can seek treatment.”

“Tis study confrmed the benefts of Neimeyer’s [66] meaning reconstruction approach in grief therapy for mothers who have experienced traumatic bereavement.”

“Some authors argue that, in the context of grief, therapies emphasizing the search for meaning are beneficial as they enable a perspective beyond mere symptoms (Batista et al., 2018b; Gabriel et al., 2021; Neimeyer, 2000, 2019; Silva, 2011).”

“When it is experienced as grief it poses the same challenges of finding meaning, making sense of a changed reality and negotiating postmortem relationships (Uren & Wastell, 2002; Murphy & Thomas, 2013), much the same as in any bereavement (Klass, Silverman & Nickman, 1996; Neimeyer, 2000).”

“…Pakenham, & Sofronoff, 2008）。これらのことから，発達障害児・者の親の心 理的適応を考える上で，意味了解は重要な要因の一つ であると考えられる。 障害のある子どもをもつことに関する意味了解が親 の心理的適応に関連することが示唆されているが，そ の作用機序は十分に明らかになっているとはいいがた い。例えば，Samios et al.（2008）はアスペルガー症 候群の子どもをもつ親において，意味了解の内容に よっては，親の心理的苦痛につながるものもあること を示唆している。先行研究が意味了解と心理的適応指 標との直接的な関連を検討するに留まっている点や，…”

“In the bereavement literature, both theoretical perspectives (e.g., Moos& Schaefer, 1986; Neimeyer, 2000) and empirical work (for a thorough review, see Davis et al., 2000) has identified meaning making as a key contributor adjustment.”

“Scholars have noted that often for Black individuals one process that helps to promote change and healing following death is meaning making (Bailey et al., 2013; Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Notwithstanding reviews which critique bereavement interventions of all types and pervasive assumptions of efficacy (e.g., Jordon & Neimeyer, 2003; Neimeyer, 2000; see also “Limitations” in discussion), several studies attest to the therapeutic potential of networking isolated individuals via…”

“The analysis of life purpose and meaning upon the death of a closed loved one has been explored at great length in a variety of quantitative investigations, with varying degrees of efficacy depending on the nature of the bereavement experience (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“The process of making meaning after experiencing a loss is based on the constructionist models of grief, as proposed by Neimeyer (2000).”

“In this paper, I applied the assumptions of Neimeyer ’ s (2000) model as delineated in Lister et al. (2008) to my grief work regarding elephants and the planet.”

“When a person is struggling to find meaning in the tragedy of trauma, it is therapeutically advisable to facilitate this process; on the other hand, when a search for meaning is not initiated by a client, counselor instigation of such a process could be ill-advised (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Neimeyer (2000) believed that the attempt to make sense or craft meaning after death is normative and central to the grief process.”

“Since the person’s social environment and both family and cultural factors are very influential while dealing with the grief, they cannot be ignored by counselors (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Bereavement interventions, which encourage expression of emotion following loss, are estimated to increase distress in 38% of individuals relative to those in a control group (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“Although culture provides resources for coping, it also expects significant changes in terms of “re-learning the world” (Attig, 1996) and new orientations at practical and existential levels (Neimeyer, 1998, 2000).”

“Some investigators (Bogensperger & Leuger-Schuster, 2014; Neimeyer, 2000) have proposed that an important aspect of recovery from CG is “meaning reconstruction” and sense-making processes, which reflects Theme 8 (narrative forming) and appears to be important for reorganizing the bereaved’s relationship with the decea…”

“Following widely cited claims that grief counselling is ‘typically ineffective, and perhaps even deleterious’ (Neimeyer, 2000, p541), a major metaanalysis was conducted on 61 outcome studies which concluded that grief therapy has little or no effect for clients with less oppressive and sustained…”

“Meaning-making literature (Neimeyer, 2000) argues that people adjust to adversity by being able to find meaning in events or outcomes of those events.”

“The theme “Too sudden: Not yet prepared for their death” indicates bereaved adult children’s difficulties in accepting the reality, recognizing and making sense of the loss despite their parents dying in old age (Neimeyer, 2000; Rando, 2000).”

“Creating meaning from death is one of the key tasks in integration (Neimeyer, 2000) and this meaning can often be achieved by the production of physical spaces or artefacts such as burial sites, locks of hair, memory boxes, trees or benches.”

“Counseling and psychotherapy can be conceptualized as contexts and processes where clients are assisted by clinicians to make sense of life-altering events and challenging experiences (Frankl, 2008; Neimeyer, 2000; Strong et al., 2008; Wong, 2010).”

“Such claims are tested in randomised controlled clinical studies, with clear verdicts backing the effectiveness of interventions (Neimeyer, 2000).”

“A growing body of palliative care research suggests participation is more likely to have beneficial effects than to cause distress to family caregivers [63–65] and may even be perceived as a form of continuity of care by the bereaved [64].”