ABSTRACT
Sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of deceased loved ones (SED) are very common in bereavement. This chapter introduces SED in terms of reported phenomenological features and conceptual challenges, highlighting aspects that may contribute to the “ineffability” of SED, i.e. people often struggle to describe them in words. It then examines experiencers’ meaning-making by focusing on two dimensions: (a) the situation-specific and often relationship-specific meanings that bereaved experiencers take from the event and (b) how experiencers make sense of such experiences in terms of their worldviews and general understandings and beliefs relating to life and death. The aim is to show how bereaved experiencers may gain rich meanings at personal, relational and existential levels despite the varied experiential and conceptual challenges that may sometimes need to be navigated in the process. The chapter draws on quotations from interview participants in previously conducted research, as well as the wider literature, and considers the relevance of SED in the broader context of grief.
