Post-traumatic growth and bereavement

Abstract

There is no uniform response to death, and the range of initial responses may run from delighted, satisfied and relieved, through to distraught, depressed and traumatised. This variability in initial response means that the subsequent course of bereavement is likely to be equally varied – with final outcomes often dependent upon what has preceded them. Where some subset of final outcomes is of research interest, it is essential that the antecedents of, or preconditions for, the final outcome are of at least equal interest. This appears in some cases to have become less of a focus in the bereavement research on post-traumatic growth (PTG). Without at least attempting to distinguish normal mourning from depression, and traumatic from other pathological responses to bereavement, it is unlikely that PTG will be consistently associated with adjustment or distress. In this review, we outline some of the conceptual distinctions that may be important in increasing our understanding of responses to death and conclude that making such distinctions, where possible, can enhance our treatment approaches in terms of ensuring they are tailored to accommodate particular psychiatric syndrome(s) that can follow bereavement, but are also aimed at facilitating PTG in certain individuals.