Dying, mourning, and spirituality: A psychological perspective

Based in an unfortunate tradition that stretches back in time to Watson's b ehaviorism and Freud's psychoanalysis, psychology has tended to reject and to pathologize matters of the spirit. In the past 30 years, however, with t he advent of what has been termed the cognitive revolution, psychology has greatly expanded the scope of its subject matter.: Psychologists and thanat ologists have begun to unravel the cognitive underpinnings of our assumptiv e world and the transformation of those underpinnings in limes of crisis an d stress. This article examines the cognitive basis of the spiritual experi ence and the use of cognitive assimilation, accommodation strategies during the process of mourning the death of a loved one, as well as during the pr ocess of living our own dying. Of special importance to mental health profe ssionals and clergy, new research on dying, mourning, and spirituality sugg ests that the specific ways in which people rediscover meaning-such as beli ef in traditional religious doctrine, the afterlife, reincarnation, philant hropy, ol a spiritual order to the universe-may be less important than the process itself. In other words, in the midst of dealing with profound loss in our lives, the ability to reascribe meaning to a changed world through s piritual tl transformation, religious conversion, or existential change may be more significant than the specific content by which that need is filled .