Psychologists Hagar Tehelet-Rubinov and Maya Halevi questioned more than 200 men and women, a portion of whom had suffered loss or trauma in the past. The participants were presented with stories of people who had suffered a trauma or loss, and were then asked to rank the severity of that person’s situation based on the way they coped with the painful event he had experienced.
According to Professor Rubin, what was surprising was that most of the study participants didn’t ascribe any importance to the length of time that had passed since the loss occurred– in other words, whether the loss had occurred 18 months earlier or five years earlier, participants said the emotional impact and the assistance required by the bereaved person did not change.
“From studies we’ve conducted on people that suffered personal losses, we found that the length of time it takes for them to return to a regular routine is about five years, thus the fact that society doesn’t ascribe importance to the passage of time is very significant,” said Prof. Rubin.
He went to on comment: “The bereaved are seeking meaning in the life of the deceased and in the personal relationship they had with him… Today the environment is very sensitive to the personal suffering and the concern with the meaning of life that the bereaved person himself feels after a loss. But we tend not to ascribe enough importance to the bereaved person’s need to find meaning in the life of the deceased. Finding meaning in the life of those who have died is a very important component in enabling the bereaved to better adjust to their loss.”
Although the results point towards society’s sympathy toward bereaved people, there is still a need to understand the many layers of coping with loss.
The full press release for the study can be found on Newswise.
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