The traumatic death* of a loved one can disturb or damage a person’s assumptive world, which leaves the survivor trying to find his or her way through an unfamiliar and perplexing landscape. Ronnie Janoff-Bulman outlines three fundamental assumptions that can be negated by trauma, damaging one's sense that (1) the world is benevolent, (2) the world is meaningful, and (3) the self is worthy. She goes on to say, “psychologically, the shattering of fundamental assumptions produces a state of both loss and disintegration; the known, comforting old assumptive world is gone, and a new one must be constructed (p. 71)." Personal Grief Coaching can help a person "construct" this new world. Janoff-Bulman, R. (1992). Shattered assumptions: Towards a new psychology of trauma. New York: The Free Press. *A traumatic death is one caused by a person, misfortune, affliction, or catastrophe, such as suicide, homicide, accidental injury, medical emergency, warfare, or natural disaster. |
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