Alleviating suffering in the face of death: Insights from constructivism and a transpersonal narrative approach

Abstract

Summary Confronting one's mortality is at the heart of much human suffering. Building upon her previous development and testing of an exploratory model of psychospiritual distress, the author explores the confrontation of death in light of a transpersonal narrative with four new dimensions: (a) normalization of death, (b) divine intention, i.e., a belief in a supernatural force of higher power that provides a cosmic order, (c) surrender, i.e., the ability to let go of the outcome of events and to accept the unknown, and (d) transpersonal existence, i.e., a belief in a continued existence beyond the known mortal self. Through a constructivist perspective on this transpersonal narrative, one can understand how personal reality is constructed and how affect flows from core beliefs that mediate events. This offers an explanatory model of how annihilation vulnerability of personhood can be mediated, resulting in diminished suffering. It suggests implications for practice to alleviate the actual suffering a person experiences.