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Recovery following bereavement: metaphor, phenomenology, and culture
1Department of Family Social Science, 290 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, University of Minneota, St. Paul, MN 55108-6140, USA. prosenbl@umn.edu
Abstract:
The concept of recovery following bereavement can be both useful and misleading. As a metaphor, the concept of recovery highlights some aspects of bereavement and obscures others. Bereaved people interviewed in 3 different studies typically did not bring up the term recovery so it did not seem to be a term that described their experience. Across cultures, the concept of recovery can be irrelevant or even misleading in understanding what goes on following bereavement. Arguably, a postmodern perspective in which no single concept is considered relevant for framing what goes on or what is desirable following bereavement might be best.
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