Grieving my broken body: an autoethnographic account of spinal cord injury as an experience of grief

Abstract

Since the losses accompanying SCI are analogous to grief, grief therapy strategies that recognise the complex and ambiguous nature of recovery can be part of rehabilitation. Therapy should encourage people to construct and reconstruct narratives--life stories--that help them mourn their loss and make sense of their new lives. The loss of an SCI is especially potent following return to the community, so storied therapy should continue beyond the period of the in-house rehabilitation.