Searching for meaning in loss: Are clinical assumptions correct?

Three assumptions guiding research and clinical intervention strategies for people coping with sudden, traumatic loss are that (a) people confronting such losses inevitably search for meaning, (b) over lime most are able to f ind meaning and Put the issue aside, and (c) finding meaning is critical fo r adjustment or healing. We review existing empirical research that address es these assumptions and present evidence from a study, of 124 parents copi ng with the death of their infant and a study of 93 adults coping with the loss of their spouse or child to a motor vehicle accident. Results of these studies indicate that (a) a significant subset of individuals do not searc h for meaning and yet appear relatively well-adjusted to their loss; (b) le ss than half of the respondents in each of these samples report finding any meaning in their loss, even mote than a year after the event; and (c) thos e who find meaning, although better adjusted than those who search but are unable to find meaning, do not put the issue of meaning aside and move on. Rather, they continue to pursue the issue of meaning as fervently as those who search but do not find meaning. Implications for both research and clin ical intervention are discussed.