Department of Education and Counseling, Villanova University.
Department of Psychology, University of Haifa.
Psychotherapy (Chic). 2018 Mar;55(1):20-26. doi: 10.1037/pst0000122.
This paper argues that there is a cultural taboo against the public recognition and expression of perinatal grief that hinders parents' ability to mourn and their psychological adjustment following a loss. It is proposed that this cultural taboo is recreated within the therapy relationship, as feelings of grief over a perinatal loss are minimized or avoided by the therapist and parent or patient. Importantly, it is suggested that if these cultural dynamics are recognized within the therapy relationship, then psychotherapy has the immense opportunity to break the taboo by validating the parent's loss as real and helping the parent to mourn within an empathic and affect-regulating relationship. Specifically, it is suggested that therapists break the cultural taboo against perinatal grief and help parents to mourn through: acknowledging and not pathologizing perinatal grief reactions, considering intrapsychic and cultural factors that impact a parent's response to loss, exploring cultural reenactments within the therapy relationship, empathizing with the parent's experience of loss and of having to grieve within a society that does not recognize perinatal loss, coregulating the parent's feelings of grief and loss, and helping patients to create personally meaningful mourning rituals. Lastly, the impact of within and between cultural differences and therapist attitudes on the therapy process is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
本文认为，公众对围产期悲伤的认识和表达存在一种文化禁忌，这阻碍了父母的悲伤能力和心理调整。有人提出，这种文化禁忌在治疗关系中重新出现，因为治疗师和父母或患者会最小化或避免对围产期丧失的悲伤感。重要的是，如果在治疗关系中认识到这些文化动态，那么心理治疗就有机会通过确认父母的损失是真实的，并在共情和情感调节的关系中帮助父母悲伤，从而打破这种禁忌。具体来说，建议治疗师通过以下方式打破围产期悲伤的文化禁忌，帮助父母悲伤：承认而不是病态化围产期悲伤反应，考虑影响父母对丧失反应的内在心理和文化因素，探索治疗关系中的文化再现，共情父母的丧失经历以及在不承认围产期丧失的社会中悲伤，共同调节父母的悲伤和失落感，并帮助患者创造个人有意义的哀悼仪式。最后，讨论了文化差异和治疗师态度在治疗过程中的内在和外在影响。
