A loss in the family: silence, memory, and narrative identity after bereavement

Memory. 2010 Feb;18(2):198-207. doi: 10.1080/09658210903143858.

Abstract

Grief theories have converged on the idea that the sharing of autobiographical memory narratives of loss and of the deceased person, especially within the family, is a major way to maintain and/or reconfigure a healthy sense of identity after a loss. In contrast, we examine unspoken memory-the withholding of socially sharing autobiographical memories about the loss and the departed family member-as a way to either conserve an existing narrative identity or assert a new narrative identity. Depending on its context and function, silence about memory can play either a positive or negative role in an individual griever's ongoing narrative identity, as well as in the larger family narrative in which the griever's identity is embedded.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Bereavement*
  • Disclosure
  • Family / psychology*
  • Grief*
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Mental Recall*
  • Psychological Theory
  • Repression, Psychology*
  • Verbal Behavior