Recovery Following Bereavement: Metaphor, Phenomenology, and Culture

The concept of recovery following bereavement can be both useful and misleading. As a metaphor, the concept of recovery highlights some aspects of bereavement and obscures others. Bereaved people interviewed in 3 different studies typically did not bring up the term recovery so it did not seem to be a term that described their experience. Across cultures, the concept of recovery can be irrelevant or even misleading in understanding what goes on following bereavement. Arguably, a postmodern perspective in which no single concept is considered relevant for framing what goes on or what is desirable following bereavement might be best.