Out of the blue and into it: Autoethnography, emotions and complicated grief

Autoethnography can be an appropriate method for researching complex emotional experiences. However, the highly self-reflexive processes involved in mining personal data are subject to a set of cultural feeling and display rules, which obscure and interfere with emotional engagement. To illustrate this, we present one author’s account of using autoethnography to research traumatic bereavement. We critically revisit three myths about the method: one negative (autoethnography is narcissistically self-indulgent) and two positive (autoethnographic techniques are therapeutic and autoethnographic writing is authentic). Observing some parallels between topic and method, we suggest that both are complicated and non-linear, following convoluted paths. Autoethnographic tales may defy the social rules of verbal tellability, failing to reveal personal insights or offer moral lessons. We conclude that, while we can admire the autoethnographic endeavour towards ‘heartfelt’ scholarship, this should be tempered by a cautiousness about the costs of digging deep.

Trauma and Escapism: The Dual Faces of Holocaust in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief

Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief wholly recaptures the trauma induced by war-torn Germany upon its inhabitants. This study serves the purpose of juxtaposing the traumatic bereavement of the Holocaust survivors with their various escaping tendencies. The chief protagonist of the novel, Liesel is representative of the entire traumatized community who faces the darkest moments of their life and still survives. Her story as part of the developing canon of Holocaust literature thus exposes the destructive trauma and affirms the importance of community in the rehabilitation of the traumatized. The power of words as an escaping force amidst all the upheaval provided much impetus to the distressed souls of Nazi Germany. Books emerged as an escaping force in the lives of many in times of all treachery and destitute. Trauma and escapism hence, binds together the traumatic experiences and the escaping strategies which the characters share among themselves under a dictatorial setup.

Comprehensive or Comprehensible Experience? A Case Study of Religion and Traumatic Bereavement

The first half of this article provides a brief overview of two respective projects concerning traumatic bereavement, in which religious faith appeared to feature amid a constellation of significant coping and sense-making mechanisms for survivors. After presenting some illustrative examples of the kind of data produced in the course of our research, the second half of the article develops a retrospectively critical appraisal of our data collection and corresponding analysis practices. In questioning the extent to which our accounts of our participants’ accounts can be considered adequate representations of social order, we critically explore the relative potential of ‘reflexivity’ for bridging the experiential gap between researchers and participants. Taken together, these reflections prompt a return to the salutary question: what counts as sociologically ‘see-able’?

Suicide and Accidental Death for Australia’s Farming Families: How Context Influences Individual Response

This article presents qualitative data to explore the experience of farming family members faced with accidental or suicide death and understand how this is experienced within the farming context. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 members of Australian farming families bereaved by suicide or accidental death. Qualitative data was thematically analyzed. Three interconnected themes were identified: acceptance of risk, normalization of death, pragmatic behavior patterns and connection to place. Bereavement and reconstruction of meaning following suicide or accidental death for farming families is influenced by the cultural, social, geographical, and psychological contexts of farming families. This article challenges traditional conceptions of suicide and accidental death as necessarily experienced as “violent” or “traumatic,” bereavement as experienced similarly across western cultures, and the reaction to suicide or accidental death as one that challenges people’s understanding of their world and leaves them struggling to find a reason why the death occurred.

The effectiveness of group trauma management therapy on the reduction of traumatic bereavement symptoms in bereaved female senior high school students

Background and aims: One of the important issues that bereaved students are faced with is the symptoms that they experience after the death of their loved one. Consequently, this can reduce their performance in various aspects of life, including education. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group trauma management therapy (GTMT) in reducing the traumatic bereavement symptoms of bereaved female students. Methods: This study was an experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population of the present study included all the bereaved senior high school female students of Iranshahr in the school year of 2016-2017. Forty subjects were selected among the whole population using the simple random sampling method. After conducting a clinical interview, to confirm the symptoms of bereavement, the selected individuals were randomly assigned to two experimental group (n=20) and control group (n=20). The Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC) was used to collect the data. To analyze the obtained data, the descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests were applied using SPSS software. Results: The results indicated the effectiveness of trauma management therapy (TMT) in decreasing despair (P<0.001), panic (P<0.001), anger and blame (P<0.001), detachment (P<0.001), disorganization (P<0.001), and personal growth (P<0.001). Conclusion: Considering the effect of GTMT on the reduction of traumatic bereavement symptoms among bereaved students, this method can be used as an effective treatment for relieving and reducing the traumatic bereavement symptoms.