'Doing the same puzzle over and over again' : a qualitative analysis of feeling stuck in grief

• Main Author: Poxon, Lucy Hope
• Published: University of East London 2013
• Subjects: 150
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.590836

This research aimed to examine the meanings and constructions underlying narratives on feeling stuck in the grieving process and the interplay between grief experience and the internally and externally sourced expectations about the nature of grief. Four participants who self-referred to a National Bereavement support charity and reported feeling stuck in grief were interviewed and the resultant transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four Master Themes emerged from the analysis: Eclipsed by the deceased; The power in powerlessness; The double-edged sword of coping behaviours and Living in Purgatory. The results reveal new insights on the significance and consequences of living with unresolved dilemmas of grieving, namely being stuck in a vicious cycle of fear and avoidance and feeling a sense of impending doom, loneliness and stagnancy. Findings support a meaning reconstruction approach to grief therapy and highlight the negative implications of holding a time-limited, stage-based conceptualistion of grief. Suggestions for service providers are made, including the potential for using targeted cognitive-behavioral grief interventions that can help to reduce dissonance and address an over dependence on avoidance and polarised thinking.