The University of Cambridge, UK.
The Open University, UK.
Health (London). 2022 Jul;26(4):393-410. doi: 10.1177/1363459320931914. Epub 2020 Jun 7.
This paper addresses the complex issue of the embodiment of grief. It explores how a theoretical shift to the body has influenced scholarly literature about grief and bereavement. Despite this shift, we argue that bodily interpretations and experiences are undertheorised in western psychological literature on bereavement. Specifically, we argue that linear stage models of grief have encouraged the view that grief needs 'working through' in the mind, and not necessarily the body. We draw on empirical data from interviews with bereaved people undertaken in England to illustrate aspects of the embodied experience of grief that differ from how psychological grief theories conceive of the bereaved person's body. Findings highlight the role of the bereaved person's body in managing grief and how the absence and continuing presence of the deceased person is managed through embodied practices. We conclude that understanding grief as an embodied experience can enable the development of grief theories that better capture the complex negotiation between the psychological processes of grief and the materiality of bodies.
本文探讨了悲伤体现这一复杂问题。它探讨了理论向身体的转变如何影响关于悲伤和丧亲的学术文献。尽管发生了这种转变，但我们认为，在西方丧亲心理学文献中，对身体的解释和体验仍未得到充分的理论化。具体来说，我们认为悲伤的线性阶段模型鼓励了这样一种观点，即悲伤需要在头脑中“解决”，而不一定是在身体中。我们借鉴了在英格兰对丧亲者进行的访谈的实证数据，来说明悲伤的身体体验的各个方面，这些方面与心理学悲伤理论对丧亲者身体的设想不同。研究结果强调了丧亲者身体在管理悲伤方面的作用，以及如何通过身体实践来管理死者的缺席和持续存在。我们的结论是，将悲伤理解为一种身体体验，可以使悲伤理论的发展更好地捕捉悲伤的心理过程和身体的物质性之间的复杂协商。
