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Title
'An all-consuming cumulonimbus of pain': a scoping review exploring the impact of ambiguous loss when someone is missing and the counselling interventions relevant to the experience
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008:
Author(s)
Publication Date
2020
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008
Early Online Version
Abstract
2019 marks the twentieth anniversary of the 1999 landmark publication <i>Ambiguous loss: learning to live with unresolved grief</i> by Emeritus Professor Pauline Boss. The book, and its exploration of uncertainty, has invited ambiguous loss into the grief counselling space, as a way to provide specialised care for families and friends of missing people. This scoping review aims to examine the breadth of literature regarding counselling interventions from the previous work of Boss to the present day, as a way to enhance quality of life for people left behind when someone is missing. The literature highlights the experience of trauma relating to complicated mourning, as well as opportunities for post-traumatic growth while people wait for news of their loved ones. The results of the review, and suggestions for future research and therapeutic interventions, demonstrate that families of missing people need specialised support when they access grief counselling. The review demonstrates how counsellors can extend their knowledge of grief interventions and learn to tolerate uncertainty themselves in order to provide support to this important group of individuals post-loss and potentially prior to a confirmed bereavement.
Publication Type
Journal Article
Source of Publication
Bereavement Care, 39(1), p. 21-29
Publisher
Routledge
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
2020-03-30
Place of Publication
United Kingdom
ISSN
1944-8279
0268-2621
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
Peer Reviewed
Yes
HERDC Category Description
Peer Reviewed
Yes
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