ABSTRACT
One notable feature of contemporary research in thanatology is the predominance of research in bereavement, eclipsing all other categories of studies in leading journals in the field. Following an orientation to group rules and norms (e.g., confidentiality, turn taking), therapists describe the focus and structure of the group and invite members to give a brief summary of the losses they have sustained in a whole-group format to invite sharing and support among participants. The discussion of group members’ hopes, goals and concerns for therapy need not take on a routine or banal quality. The experience in testing the feasibility of the MLG in three quite different contexts and in three different countries has laid the groundwork for a controlled trial of this novel intervention, drawing on validated instruments for assessing both meaning making and mourning across the course of treatment.
