"Doing the same puzzle over and over again": A Qualitative analysis of feeling stuck in grief.

This research aimed to examine the meanings and constructions underlying

narratives on feeling stuck in the grieving process and the interplay between

grief experience and the internally and externally sourced expectations

about the nature of grief. Four participants who self-referred to a National

Bereavement support charity and reported feeling stuck in grief were

interviewed and the resultant transcripts were analysed using Interpretative

Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).

Four Master Themes emerged from the analysis: Eclipsed by the deceased;

The power in powerlessness; The double-edged sword of coping behaviours

and Living in Purgatory. The results reveal new insights on the significance

and consequences of living with unresolved dilemmas of grieving, namely

being stuck in a vicious cycle of fear and avoidance and feeling a sense of

impending doom, loneliness and stagnancy.

Findings support a meaning reconstruction approach to grief therapy and

highlight the negative implications of holding a time-limited, stage-based

conceptualisation of grief. Suggestions for service providers are made,

including the potential for using targeted cognitive-behavioural grief

interventions that can help to reduce dissonance and address an over

dependence on avoidance and polarised thinking.