The aim of this paper was to examine how grief affects the physical, social, psychological and spiritual dimensions according to Van Deurzen’s existential psychology theory, and how grief is handled according to Parks’ meaning-system theory. The human being is controlled, according to Van Deurzen, by physical, psychological, social and spiritual forces, also called dimensions. These forces are challenged when we experience a crisis. The search for meaning is important to humanbeings according to Park. Religion can offer a meaning-system that helps people manage crisis. The empirical study involved a qualitative approach with a primarily theory-driven analysis. Eight semistructured interviews were conducted with mourners that had lost their spouses and had attended a grief group organized by the local parish. The results showed that grief affected the respondents’ different aforementioned dimensions in different ways. Not all respondents’ dimensions were affected by grief. In some cases there was no change. The results showed above all that many respondents’ developed the social dimension despite the loneliness they felt after their spouse’s death. The results indicated that several respondents’ used religion as a meaning-system, and for others ‘the feeling of being needed’ was also of importance as a meaning-system. Several respondents expressed the significance of attending the local parish grief group as providing a positive impact on how they were able to cope with their grief. Suggestions for future research are provided.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-316276 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Boman, Lars |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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