What is it about?
This article discusses how grief may be used in creative ways, with a focus on a traumatic bereavement, i.e. involving a loved one's death due to drugs. It draws on interviews with bereaved people to illustrate how they coped with the negative stereotypes of drug use and related stigma these deaths attract through e.g. activities, both public and private, to raise awareness of and/or support those affected by this kind of death/loss, such as setting up a family support service or writing a book etc. Thus alongside their pain and vulnerability they showed resilience, which enabled a creative and constructive engagement with their loss.
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Why is it important?
This article is important in illustrating the more creative facet of grief, even in the face of a traumatic and stigmatised bereavement. By drawing on unique primary data from interviews with adults bereaved by a drug-related death, the article movingly conveys how individuals under extreme pressure may respond positively to the extent of using their culture's resources in a creative way that has meaning for both themselves and others.
Perspectives
This article is important to me in how it illustrates and emphasises the complex and potentially creative nature of how individuals may relate to their culture/society, even in times of considerable pain, stress and distress. It is also important in being based on the first ever research project for which 106 bereaved individuals were willing and generous enough to contribute their experiences.
Christine Valentine
University of Bath
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Creative Responses to a Drug- or Alcohol-Related Death, Illness Crisis & Loss, June 2015, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1054137315590733.
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