Grief as a Quest for Meaning: Review of a Research Program

Abstract

Grief can be viewed as a frequently anguished attempt to reaffirm or reconstruct a world of meaning that has been shaken or shattered by loss. This article reviews 25 years of research stemming from this constructivist premise, tracing its evolution through three phases of evolving methodologies in pursuit of a deeper, more empirically informed and practically oriented understanding of bereavement and its implications for professional practice. The article concludes by noting three growing edges of the research program calling for further development, in terms of (1) the process and outcome of meaning-focused grief therapy, (2) naturally occurring processes of meaning reconstruction in non-clinical contexts, and (3) the possible contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) in bereavement support and intervention.