‘I’ve tried not to show it too much, and not burden others with my problems’: A discourse analysis of understandings of grief among siblings bereaved by drug-related deaths

Abstract

This article explores discourses of grief and loss among siblings bereaved by drug-related deaths. Although sociocultural context influences how grief is expressed and understood, there is a lack of knowledge about how prevailing discourses on grief provide conditions for dealing with grief. The aim of this study was to draw attention to cultural understandings of grief with the research question: ‘Following a drug-related death, how do bereaved siblings draw on discourses in their talk about grief and how do they position themselves accordingly as bereaved?’ We also examined some social consequences of siblings’ positionings. The data were obtained from in-depth interviews with 10 bereaved adult siblings talking about their experiences. The data were analysed using the interpretative repertoires and positioning perspectives from discourse psychology. Findings revealed four interpretative repertoires displaying a variety of talk about grief: grief as being visibly affected; grief as a hierarchy; grief as something to be managed; grief as a reaction which follows death. These repertoires portray different understandings of grief used by siblings in meaning-making relating to their own experiences of bereavement. The positions produced by the repertoires have consequences for bereaved siblings’ access to help and support. Siblings frequently placed themselves or were placed in positions that produced a lack of social recognition of their grief and hence they were deprived of help and support.