Narratives of experiences of presence in bereavement: sources of comfort, ambivalence and distress

Abstract

Bereaved people frequently report perceiving the continued presence of the person they lost in the form of a voice, a vision, a felt presence or any other sensory perception. This report explores this psychological phenomenon, experiences of presence, using narrative interviewing and analysis. Ten people were interviewed, in English or Spanish, using a biographical narrative procedure. The analysis, part of a project focused on unwelcome continued presences, was focused on the sources of distress, ambivalence and comfort reported in participant narratives on their experiences, as well as on the sociocultural processes influencing them. Identified properties were grouped into nine categories, with this report being primarily focused on sources related to distress, or ambivalence, and their relevance for clinical practice.