Counseling after traumatic loss: Effects on self-compassion, post-traumatic growth, and depression among among Mourners in Isfahan city

پژوهش های روان شناسی بالینی و مشاوره

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 19 June 2024

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/tpccp.2024.84737.1576

Authors

Zahra Asgari^{* 1}; Azam Naghavi²; Mohammad Reza Abedi³

¹PhD in Counseling, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

²Associate professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

³Professor, Department of Counseling Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: One of the challenges related to traumatic losses is the issue of mourning after them, because their survivors experience the symptoms of bereavement more intensely and for a longer period. The phenomenon of grief is an internal experience and like other events, it requires a process to go through so that the survivors can return to the normal flow of life afterwards.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a counselling package for traumatic loss in emergencies on self-compassion, post-traumatic growth, and depression in bereaved individuals.

Methods: This was an experimental study with pre-test, post-test, follow-up with control group. The population consisted of all bereaved men and women aged 19 to 40 who experienced traumatic loss in Isfahan in 2022. Thirty participants were selected using convenient sampling and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The counselling package was implemented only for people in the experimental group in six stages and with the number of 6 to 10 face-to-face sessions of up to 90 minutes. Data was collected using self-compassion questionnaires, post-traumatic growth, and Beck depression questionnaires. Data was analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with SPSS 22 software.

Results: The results showed a significant difference in self-compassion, post-traumatic growth, and depression scores between the experimental and control groups at post-test (P<0.05), which remained after one month of follow-up.

Discussion and conclusion: The traumatic loss-counseling package can be effective in increasing self-compassion and post-traumatic growth while reducing depression in bereaved individuals during emergencies. This package can be used to facilitate the mourning process for people experiencing traumatic loss.

Keywords

traumatic loss counseling; grief; self-compassion; post-traumatic growth; depression

References