Sense of Presence Experiences and Meaning-Making in Bereavement: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Acknowledgements:We would like to extend our sincere thanks to two anonymous reviewers and to Robert A. Neimeyer and Nigel Field for their invaluable and insightful advice and support in helping us to develop this article for publication.1 Address correspondence to Edith Steffen, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom. E-mail: e.steffen@surrey.ac.uk, Tel.: +44 (0)1483 689553 Keywords: bereavement; continuing bonds; meaning-making; post-traumatic growth; sense of presence; spirituality Bereavement has been described as a major life crisis with potentially severe effects on the survivor's physical and psychological well-being (Lindemann, 1944;Parkes, 1970Parkes, , 1996. 2 SENSE OF PRESENCE EXPERIENCES AND MEANING-MAKING IN BEREAVEMENT: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSISFor much of the twentieth century, Western approaches to bereavement have emphasized emotional disengagement from the deceased and the 'working-through' of grief (Freud, 3 1917). Following increasing challenges to this 'grief work' paradigm (e.g. Wortman & Silver, 1989), a new strand of bereavement research has started to identify positive effects of bereavement under the categories of coping (e.g. Folkman, 2001) and post-traumatic growth .Linking bereavement research with research into post-traumatic cognitive processes has drawn attention to the significance of post-bereavement 'meaning-making'. According to Janoff-Bulman (1992), major trauma can shatter people's 'assumptive world' with regard to core beliefs about the benevolence and meaningfulness of the world and one's self-worth.Such 'existential trauma' (Benore & Park, 2004) can lead to a 'search for meaning ' (Frankl, 1959;) ,with the goal of integrating the loss into the assumptive worldview or 'self-narrative' (Neimeyer, 2001) through meaning reconstruction processes such as sense-making, benefitfinding, and identity change (Neimeyer, 2006).Religious and spiritual beliefs can aid these processes (Davis, Nolen-Hoeksema & Larson, 1998), and the potentially positive role of religion in bereavement has been observed (e.g. Becker et al., 2007;Golsworthy & Coyle, 1999;Wortman & Park, 2008). However, a major loss can also challenge existing religious beliefs or lead to a (re-)discovery of faith and spiritual change (Balk, 1999). Spiritual experiences in bereavement may play a significant role here. Benore and Park (2004) 1996) and is generally perceived as 'comforting' (e.g. Parkes, 1970;Sormanti & August, 1997), 'pleasant' (Grimby, 1998;), and helpful or positive (e.g. Chan et al., 2005;LaGrand, 1997). Sometimes, though, sense-of-presence experiences are perceived as negative; for example, Tyson-Rawson (1996) noted that an 'unwelcome' or 'intrusive presence' is often linked with 'unfinished business' in the relationship with the deceased. Although the reported percentages of negative experiences are small compared to positive ones, e.g. 6% and 69% respectively by Rees (1971Rees ( , 2001) and 14% and 86% respectively by Datson and Marwit (1997), di...

Unresolved mourning, supernatural beliefs and dissociation: a mediation analysis

“…During normal bereavement, the need to maintain attachment relationships increase and, for some, attachment-seeking efforts include communicating with ghosts or apparitions of the deceased (Kwilecki, 2011) or sensing the presence of the deceased during daily activities (Steffen & Coyle, 2011). Study findings have suggested that these supernatural experiences may compensate for anxious attachment experiences from early childhood.…”

“…These supernatural events may operate as imaginal attachment resources that support a sense of "earned security" and emotional regulation (Granqvist, Mikulincer, & Shaver, 2010). Optimally, spiritual or religious beliefs may offer greater meaning making (Frick, 2011;Steffen & Coyle, 2010;Steffen & Coyle, 2011) and a continuing bond with the deceased, whether externalized (hallucinations and illusions of the deceased) or internalized (mental representations of the deceased) (Field, 2006;Field, Gao, & Paderna, 2005).…”

A phenomenological analysis of the relationship between grief, emotional stress and anomalous experiences

“…For such purposes specifically, a variety of qualitative approaches have been espoused, such as phenomenology (Heath, 2000), discourse analysis (Wooffitt & Allistone, 2005), grounded theory (SimmondsMoore, Rhine-Feather, & Hamilton, 2008), thematic analysis (Steffen & Coyle, 2011) and the interpretive phenomenological approach (Roxburgh & Roe, 2013;Wilde & Murray, 2010). In the field of psychology more generally, Lyons (2009) reports a greater acceptance of qualitative methods of inquiry with regard to an increasing array of topics and research purposes.…”

“I thought they should know… that daddy is not completely gone”

“…Through participant observation, the first author attempted to share the participants' naturalistic settings, foregrounding the participants' structuring of that world (Uzzell & Barnett, 2012). A social constructionist reading of interview data was also adopted 8 because, in Steffen and Coyle's (2011) qualitative study of sense of presence experiences, a focus on discursive aspects highlighted important dimensions within the data, such as the establishment of credible accounts and warding off alternative interpretations. This reading was 'discursive' in that it entailed the selective use of some analytic foci and techniques drawn from discourse analysis, thus locating itself within a social constructionist perspective.…”

“…In a review of relevant literature (Steffen & Coyle, 2010), it was proposed that this experience could be conceptualized as a spiritual phenomenon. Building on this review, a recent qualitative study investigating the role this experience may play in meaning-making processes found that personal growth or finding meaning through the experience beyond immediate coping concerns required the availability of spiritual/religious frameworks which could be adopted or, if available but discrepant, could be accommodated to integrate the experience meaningfully (Steffen & Coyle, 2011).…”