تئوری عزاداری کنونی: مفاهیم برای تمرین هنر درمانی

In a recent survey of art therapists affiliated with the American Art Therapy Association (American Art Therapy Association, I. (2007). Newsletter, XL. American Art Therapy Association, INC., pp. 23), bereavement/grief was listed as one of the top 10 specialties of practicing art therapists. Despite the apparent popularity of this kind of work, publications suggest that stage-based approaches to grief still seem to be the norm (Finn, C. A. (2003). Helping students cope with loss: incorporating art into group counselling. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 28, 155–165; Hiltunen, S. M. S. (2003). Bereavement, lamenting and the prism of consciousness: Some practical considerations. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 30, 217–228) regardless of the recent theoretical and empirical advances in bereavement. Instead of seeing the natural process of grief as something that must be experienced in stages, the more recent theories (Neimeyer, R. A. (1998). Lessons of loss: A guide to coping. NY: McGraw-Hill; Stroebe, M. S., & Schut, H. (1999). The dual process of model of coping with bereavement: Rationale and description. Death Studies, 23(3), 197–224) focus on finding meaning in the aftermath of loss and describe the process in a more complex way. These approaches fit well with the art therapist's orientation towards externalizing, facilitating insight and understanding in the client. The article describes these newer approaches to bereavement and provides clinical and theoretical implications for art therapists working in grief/bereavement.

The “scientific” study of bereavement has been documented since the early 17th century (Parkes, 2001 and Parkes, 2002). Since that time, physicians and researchers, such as Darwin, chronicled both the process and outcome of loss. However, it was Freud's (1917)Mourning and Melancholia that propelled the study of grief and loss into the mainstream arena of psychology. Freud's theory of “grief work” laid the foundation and set the assumptions for our understanding of grief for almost a century. In the last 20 years, the assumptions about the process, purpose, and outcome of grief have been challenged. Researchers have proposed new theories that incorporate related fields of research such as attachment theory and emotion theory, while other researchers argue for bereavement specific models ( Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe, & Schut, 2001). The literature on bereavement, both theoretical and empirical, has largely focused on spousal loss late in life. Additionally, much of the literature chronicling the sequelae of loss focuses on negative outcomes such as depression, psychiatric symptoms, and heightened mortality. In the last decade, researchers and theoreticians have begun to look at some of the positive outcomes of loss. This shift in focus allows clinicians and researchers to investigate more thoroughly the complexity of the bereavement experience.

Bereavement is an omnipresent experience, whether we have lost a significant object, a significant place, or a significant person. Art therapists should be well versed in the current theories of bereavement so they can be optimally effective with their clients. The Dual-Process Model and the Meaning-Reconstruction Model are two of the most recent models that theorists and researchers are developing and exploring. These models remove the confinements of phases or stages, “shoulds” and “should nots” and instead focus on the individual's unique understanding and construction of the loss. The art therapist is well suited to address these individual narratives and constructions through creative exploration and metaphor.