Definition
Meaning-making is the process by which bereaved people construct a coherent, workable story around loss. It is one of the more robust predictors of adaptive grief trajectories.
Why it matters
Meaning-making is neither obligatory nor immediate. Naming it accurately — as a possible movement, not a required task — respects the person.
The Science
Neimeyer and colleagues have consistently found meaning-making associated with better bereavement outcomes. It is not the same as “reasons things happen”; it can be experiential, relational, or narrative.
The NSI Perspective
NSI treats meaning-making as a legitimate movement in grief, honored without being demanded.
Clinical Implications
Meaning-oriented therapies (Meaning-Centered Therapy, meaning-reconstruction approaches) have evidence.
Practical Application
Meaning does not have to arrive as an answer. Sometimes it arrives as a way of holding the loss that lets you keep living.
References
- 1.Neimeyer RA, Burke LA, Mackay MM, van Dyke Stringer JG. Grief therapy and the reconstruction of meaning: from principles to practice. J Contemp Psychother. 2010;40(2):73–83.