From morality to pathology: A brief historization of contemporary Western grief practices and understandings
Engelsk titel: From morality to pathology: A brief historization of contemporary Western grief practices and understandings
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Författare:
Holte Kofod, Ester
Email: ester@hum.aau.dk
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 44
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 17030182
Sammanfattning
In this paper, I present three ideal typical grief articulations drawn from three historical periods:
(1) grief as a moral practice in Ancient Greek virtue ethics, (2) grief as an expression of an
inner, authentic morality in the Romantic era, and (3) grief as a psychologized and increasingly
pathologized phenomenon in modern psychology up to the present attempts to include separate
diagnoses for pathological grief in the diagnostic manuals for mental disorders (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013; World Health Organization, 2016). The purpose of this presentation
is to shed light on current taken-for-granted notions of grief, and, by providing some historical
background, challenge prevailing understandings that depict grief as an ahistorical, universal,
intra-psychological and (potentially) medical condition that is analytically separate from
historical, social, cultural, and religious practices. Informed by a cultural psychological outlook
(Brinkmann, 2016; Valsiner, 2014), I argue that the relationship between grieving individuals
and their cultures is dialectical, mutually constituting and inherently normative, and hence,
that the diagnostic approach to grief as an individual, causal reaction to loss is flawed. On this
background, I argue that an acknowledgment of the inherent normativity of grief (as presented
by the historical accounts) can potentially inform and enrich contemporary understandings and
practices related to bereavement, ultimately to the benefit of people who suffer from grief.