Therapeutic writing and the grieving process of mothers who experienced early pregnancy loss – narrative well-being

Abstract

ABSTRACT Early pregnancy loss profoundly affects parents, with a prevalence of 20% to 50%, making complicated grief (CG) one of the most challenging issues arising from this event. Narrative Therapy (NT) and Virtual Reality (VR) emerge in this study as potential psychological intervention approaches. We aim to expand research on early pregnancy loss, highlighting the need for innovative and empathetic/humanistic interventions. The primary objective is to analyze the narratives of mothers who have faced early pregnancy loss, categorizing their written narratives and identifying potential markers that either facilitate or hinder their grieving process. This is a case study of two mothers who experienced early pregnancy loss. The narratives were collected from an ongoing research project – AViR (Cameirão & Fonseca, 2022), and were analyzed using three narrative assessment tools - Content, Structure, and Process (Gonçalves et al., 2001a, 2001b; Gonçalves et al., 2002b). The analysis revealed that the narrative of the participant who underwent the virtual reality intervention demonstrated signs of greater well-being. Parameters such as a higher capacity for metaphorization and cognitive subjectivity in describing early pregnancy loss were identified with greater relevance. Therapeutic writing can help overcome the grieving process. Assigning meanings to the experience is associated with less painful grieving processes.