Post-Traumatic Growth After the Drug-Related Death of a Loved One: Understanding the Influence of Self-Compassion and Hope

Abstract

The interaction between self-compassion, hope, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) following the loss of a loved one to a drug related death (DRD) has been largely unexplored in the current literature. This study examines the interaction between the constructs of hope and self-compassion as they impact PTG among those who are in bereavement from a DRD. For the purposes of this study a “loved one” is defined as anyone who had a meaningful relationship with the person who is now deceased. We examined the associations between self-compassion, PTG and hope using structural equation modeling with a sample of 292 individuals who experienced the DRD of a loved one. Our analysis shows that self-compassion serves as a predictor for PTG when operating independently from hope. When the construct of hope is introduced, it serves as a powerful mediator on the relationship between self-compassion and PTG following bereavement by a DRD. These results suggest that the facilitation of the psychospiritual constructs of hope and self-compassion during the counseling process following the loss of a loved one to a DRD can serve to support PTG.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arbuckle

J. L.

(2014). Amos (version 23.0) [computer program]. IBM SPSS.

Barnard

(2007). Drug addiction and families. Jessica Kingsley.

Barry

C. L.

McGinty

E. E.

Pescosolido

Goldman

H. H.

(2014). Stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness and policy support: Comparing public views about drug addiction with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 65(10), 1269–1272. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400140

Bradshaw

S. D.

Shumway

S. T.

Harris

K. S.

Baker

A. K.

(2013). Predictive factors of readiness for change during inpatient treatment. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 31(3), 280–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2013.800429

Bradshaw

Shumway

S. T.

Wang

E. W.

Harris

K. S.

Smith

D. B.

Austin-Robillard

(2015). Hope, readiness, and coping in family recovery from addiction. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 10(4), 313–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/1556035X.2015.1099125

Brooks

Kay-Lambkin

Bowman

Childs

(2012). Self-compassion amongst clients with problematic alcohol use. Mindfulness, 3(4), 308–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-012-0106-5

Castilho

Pinto-Gouveia

Duarte

(2015). Evaluating the multifactor structure of the long and short versions of the self-compassion scale in a clinical sample. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71(9), 856–870. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22187

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). Overdose Deaths Accelerating During COVID-19. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p1218-overdose-deaths-covid-19.html.

Chan

M. W. C.

S. M. Y.

Tedeschi

R. G.

Leung

C. W. L.

(2011). The valence of attentional bias and cancer-related rumination in posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth among women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 20(5), 544–552. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.1761

10.

Costa

Marôco

Pinto-Gouveia

Ferreira

Castilho

(2016). Validation of the psychometric properties of the self-compassion scale. Testing the factorial validity and factorial invariance of the measure among borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorder, and general populations. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 23(5), 460–468. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.1974

11.

Currier

J. M.

Mallot

Martinez

T. E.

Sandy

Neimeyer

R. A.

(2013). Bereavement, religion, and posttraumatic growth: A matched control group investigation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5(2), 69–77. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027708

12.

da Silva, E. A., Noto, A. R., & Formigoni, M. L. O. S. (2007). Death by drug overdose: Impact on families. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 39(3), 301–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2007.10300618

13.

Danhauer

S. C.

Case

L. D.

Tedeschi

Ruseell

Vishnevsky

Triplett

E. H.

Avis

N. E.

(2013). Predictors of posttraumatic growth in women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 22(12), 2676–2683. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3298

14.

Dyregrov

Nordanger

Dyregrov

(2003). Predictors of psychosocial distress after suicide, SIDS and accidents. Death Studies, 27(2), 143–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180302892

15.

Feigelman

Jordan

J. R.

Gorman

B. S.

(2011). Parental grief after a child's Drug death compared to other death causes: Investigating a greatly neglected bereavement population. OMEGA-Journal of death and dying, 63(4), 291–316. https://doi.org/10.2190/OM.63.4.a

16.

Frankl

V. E.

(1984). Man's search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy (3rd ed). Simon & Schuster.

17.

Gutierrez, D. (2019). Spiritus contra spiritum: Addiction, hope, and the search for meaning. Journal of Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 6(4), 229–239. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000201

18.

Gutierrez, D., Dorais, S., & Goshorn, J. R. (2020). Recovery as Life Transformation: Examining the Relationships between Recovery, Hope, and Relapse, Substance Use & Misuse, 55(12), 1949–1957. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2020.1781181.

19.

Guy

(2004). Bereavement through drug use: Messages from research. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services: Issues in Practice, Policy & Research, 16(1), 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950315042000254956

20.

Guy

Holloway

(2007). Drug-related deaths and the “special deaths” of late modernity. Sociology (Oxford), 41(1), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038507074717

21.

Haroosh

Freedman

(2017). Posttraumatic growth and recovery from addiction. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2017.1369832

22.

Heeke

Kampisiou

Niemeyer

Knaevelsrud

(2017). A systematic review and meta-analysis of correlates of prolonged grief disorder in adults exposed to violent loss. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(sup6), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1583524

23.

Hogan

N. S.

Schmidt

L. E.

(2002). Testing the grief to personal growth model using structural equation modeling. Death Studies, 26(8), 615–634. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180290088338

24.

Irving

L. M.

Snyder

C. R.

Cheavens

Gravel

Hanke

Hilberg

Nelson

(2004). The relationships between hope and outcomes at the pretreatment, beginning, and later phases of psychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 14(4), 419–443. https://doi.org/10.1037/1053-0479.14.4.419

25.

Khursheed

Shahnawaz

M. G.

(2020). Trauma and post-traumatic growth: Spirituality and self-compassion as mediators among parents who lost their young children in a protracted conflict. Journal of Religion and Health, 59(5), 2623–2637. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-00980-2

26.

Kim

J. J.

Oldham

Fernando

A. T.

Kirby

J. N.

(2021). Compassion mediates poor sleep quality and mental health outcomes. Mindfulness, 12(5), 1252–1261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01595-8

27.

Kirby

Sagar

Day

(2019). The ‘flow’ of compassion: A meta-analysis of the fears of compassion scales and psychological functioning. Clinical Psychology Review, 70, 26–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.03.001

28.

Kline

R. B.

(2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). Guilford.

29.

Landers

R. N.

Behrend

T. S.

(2015). An inconvenient truth: Arbitrary distinctions between organizational, mechanical Turk, and other convenience samples. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 8(2), 142–164. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.13

30.

Leamy

Bird

Le Boutillier

Williams

Slade

(2011). Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: Systematic review and narrative synthesis. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science, 199(6), 445–452. https:// https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.110.083733

31.

Leary

M. R.

Tate

E. B.

Adams

C. E.

Allen

A. B.

Hancock

(2007). Self-compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: The implications of treating oneself kindly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(5), 887–904. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.887

32.

Laursen

T. M.

Precht

D. H.

Olsen

Mortensen

P. B.

(2005). Hospitalization for mental illness among parents after the death of a child. The New England Journal of Medicine, 352(12), 1190–1196. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa033160

33.

Liu

Wang

Gong

Liu

(2017). Correlation between posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms based on Pearson correlation coefficient: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 205(5), 380–389. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000605

34.

Liu

Wang

Zhang

Wang

(2018). Less mindful, more struggle and growth: Mindfulness, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and posttraumatic growth of breast cancer survivors. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 206(8), 621–627. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000854

35.

López

Sanderman

Schroevers

M. J.

(2018). A close examination of the relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. Mindfulness, 9(5), 1470–1478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0891-6

36.

Lumb

A. B.

Beaudry

Blanchard

(2016). Posttraumatic growth and bereavement: The contribution of self-determination theory. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 75(4), 311–336. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222816652971

37.

MacBeth

Gumley

(2012). Exploring compassion: A meta-analysis of the association between self-compassion and psychopathology. Clinical Psychology Review, 32(6), 545–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.003

38.

Mason

Suri

(2012). Conducting behavioral research on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Behavior Research Methods, 44(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0124-6

39.

Moore

M. M.

Cereal

Jobes

D. A.

(2015). Fruits of trauma?: Posttraumatic growth among suicide-bereaved parents. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 36(4), 241–248. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/A000318

40.

Mullen

P. R.

Fox

Goshorn

J. R.

Warraich

L. K.

(2021). Crowdsourcing for online samples in counseling research. Journal of Counseling & Development, 99(2), 221–226. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12369

41.

Murthy

V. H.

(2017). Facing addiction in the United States: The surgeon General's Report of alcohol, drugs, and health. JAMA, 317(2), 133–134. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.18215

42.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (2021). Trends & Statistics: Overdose Death Rates. https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates.

43.

Neff

(2003a). Self-Compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860390129863

44.

Neff

K. D.

(2003b). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2(3), 223–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860390209035

45.

Neff

K. D.

Hsieh

Dejitterat

(2005). Self-compassion, achievement goals, and coping with academic failure. Self and Identity, 4(3), 263–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500444000317

46.

Office of the Surgeon General (2016). Facing addiction in america: The surgeon General's Report on alcohol, drugs, and health. US Department of Health and Human Services.

47.

Park

C. L.

A. L.

(2006). Meaning making and growth: New directions for research on survivors of trauma. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 11(5), 389–407.

48.

Qualtrics. (2013). Qualtrics. Provo, UT. Retrieved from https://www.qualtrics.com.

49.

Raes

Pommier

Neff

K. D.

Van Gucht

(2011). Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the self-compassion scale. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 18(3), 250–255. https://doi.org/10.002/cpp.702

50.

Redlich

Hadas-Lidor

Weiss

Amirav

(2010). Mediated learning experience intervention increases hope of family members coping with a relative with severe mental illness. Community Mental Health Journal, 46(4), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-009-9234-3

51.

Rubin

S. S.

(1985). The resolution of bereavement: A clinical focus on the relationship to the deceased. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 22(2), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0085499

52.

Rzeszutek

(2017). Social support and posttraumatic growth in a longitudinal study of people living with HIV: The mediating role of positive affect. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2017.1412225

53.

Scoglio

A. A. J.

Rudat

D. A.

Garvert

Jarmolowski

Jackson

Herman

J. L.

(2018). Self-Compassion and responses to trauma: The role of emotion regulation. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33(13), 2016–2036. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515622296

54.

Seligowski

A. V.

Miron

L. R.

Orcutt

H. K.

(2015). Relations among self-compassion, PTSD symptoms, and psychological health in a trauma-exposed sample. Mindfulness, 6(5), 1033–1041. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-014-0351-x

55.

Shear

M. K.

(2015). Complicated grief. The New England Journal of Medicine, 372(2), 153–160. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMcp1315618

56.

Snyder

C. R.

(2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1304_01

57.

Snyder

C. R.

Harris

Anderson

J. R.

Holleran

S. A.

Irving

L. M.

Sigmon

S. T.

Yoshinobu

Gibb

Langelle

Harney

(1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.4.570

58.

Sowards

K. A.

O’Boyle

Weissman

(2006). Inspiring hope, envisioning alternatives: The importance of peer role models in a mandated treatment program for women. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 6(4), 55–70. https://doi.org/10.1300/J160v06n04_04

59.

Standing

Dickie

Templeton

(2019). Developing peer support for adults bereaved through substance Use. Illness, Crisis, and Loss, 27(1), 36–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137318780573

60.

Strickland

J. C.

Stoops

W. W.

(2019). The use of crowdsource in addiction science research: Amazon mechanical Turk. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 27(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000235

61.

Tedeschi

R. G.

Calhoun

L. G.

(1996). The posttraumatic growth inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9(3), 455–471. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.2490090305

62.

Tedeschi

R. G.

Calhoun

L. G.

(2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01

63.

Templeton

Valentine

McKell

Ford

Velleman

Walter

Hay

Bauld

Hollywood

(2017). Bereavement following a fatal overdose: The experiences of adults in england and scotland. Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy, 24(1), 58–66. https://doi.org/10.3109/09687637.2015.1127328

64.

Titlestad

K. B.

Mellingen

Stroebe

Dyregrov

(2021). Sounds of silence. The “special grief” of drug-death bereaved parents: A qualitative study. Addiction Research & Theory, 29(2), 155–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/160066359.2020.1751827

65.

Tolleson

Zeligman

(2019). Creativity and posttraumatic growth in those impact by a chronic illness/disability. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 14(4), 499–509. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2019.1632769

66.

Tweedell

Forchuk

Jewell

Steinnagel

(2004). Families’ experience during recovery or nonrecovery from psychosis. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 18(1), 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.apnu.2003.11.004

67.

Urmanche

A. A.

(2020). Bearing witness to the epidemic: Supporting clinicians after a client overdose death. Practice Innovations, 5(4), 275–289. https://doi.org/10.1037/PRI0000115

68.

Valentine

Bauld

Walter

(2016). Bereavement following substance misuse: A disenfranchised grief. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 72(4), 283–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815625174

69.

Vara

Thimm

J. C.

(2019). Associations between self-compassion and complicated grief symptoms in bereaved individuals: An exploratory study. Nordic Psychology, 72(3), 235–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2019.1684347

70.

Warner

R. M.

(2013). Applied statistics: From bivariate through multivariate techniques (2nd ed.). Sage.

71.

Wong

C. C. Y.

Yeung

N. C. Y.

(2017). Self-compassion and posttraumatic growth: Cognitive processes as mediators. Mindfulness, 8, 1078–1087. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0683-4

72.

World Health Organization (2020). Opioid Overdose. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/opioid-overdose.

73.

Zeligman

Varney

Grad

Huffstead

(2018). Posttraumatic growth individuals with chronic illness: The role of social support and meaning making. Journal of Counseling & Development, 96(1), 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12177

74.

Zwahlen

Hagenbuch

Carley

M. I.

Jenewein

Buchi

(2009). Posttraumatic growth in cancer patients and partners—effects of role, gender and the dyad on couples’ posttraumatic growth experience. Pscho-Oncology, 19(1), 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.1486