Table Of ContentChristian Lönneker
Magical Thinking
in Severe Grief
Reactions
Theoretical Foundations
and New Insights from
a Grounded Theory Expert Study
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Christian Lönneker
Magical Thinking in
Severe Grief Reactions
Theoretical Foundations and New
Insights from a Grounded Theory
Expert Study
With a preface by Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Maercker
Christian Lönneker
Department of Psychology
Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention
University of Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
ISSN 2625-3577 ISSN 2625-3615 (electronic)
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Acknowledgements
The present master thesis was written at the Chair of Psychopathology
and Clinical Intervention at the University of Zurich. I am deeply grateful
to my supervisor, Dr. Iara Meili, who with her invaluable advice support-
ed this qualitative research journey wherever it took us. She taught me
much about academic writing and encouraged me in my efforts far be-
yond the present work. I would also like to thank all participants in the
expert study for their support and for very interesting conversations. Be-
yond their rich expertise, they were a source of motivation and inspira-
tion. Last but not least, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas
Maercker for enabling this innovative project and providing a stimulating
framework. The initial idea for this investigation originated with him.
Preface
Grief and mourning are moments of existential confrontation. One is
confronted with mortality, finiteness and very often with one’s own dark-
ened soul. In June 2018 the World Health Organization (WHO) decided
to officially recognize a new category of disorder that covers the cases of
people who are unable to overcome their personal grief and who thus
develop Prolonged Grief Disorder, which requires professional help. Up
until now, people in this state of suffering would have been most fre-
quently diagnosed with a depressive disorder. The scientific community
and many clinicians around the world consider this development as long
overdue.
Making a contribution in this regard is Christian Lönneker’s book Magi-
cal Thinking in Severe Grief Reactions. This work opens up new portals
to the topic—at least from a scientific standpoint. In 2005 the American
author Joan Didion published a memoir on the double bereavement she
suffered after death of her husband and daughter. Christian Lönneker’s
work examines in a most thoughtful and far-reaching manner the psycho-
logical concepts of magical thinking as well as common beliefs relating
to superstition along with its anthropological underpinnings.
Lönneker focuses on the Delphi-method study as performed by experts
on bereavement and grief. The author interviewed them regarding their
views on the occurrence and particularities of magical thinking in relation
to clients who were in the midst of bereavement and grieving. He uncov-
ers many non-trivial aspects and agglomerates them to create a very co-
herent overall picture. The reader will surely gain many interesting in-
sights. Christian Lönneker’s final discussion of grief-related magical
thinking as “uncompleted rites of passage” will have far-reaching conse-
quences for further psychopathological as well as psychotherapeutic work
in the field.
X Preface
From my personal standpoint, the current investigation is very fruitful for
two additional reasons. First, the topic of magical thinking covers non-
rational views and behaviors that are often neglected in psychological
science. Second, these terms may be better able to nonjudgmentally cover
rites and customs from non-Western parts of the world.
We as psychotherapists have to learn that not all non-rational views and
behavior must be changed as quickly as possible to rational ones. For the
last decades we have been trained to label such interpretations and coping
styles as “irrational” and to replace them with “functional” views. We
may discover that not everything in the realm of non-rational mental ac-
tivities is bad and needs to be extinguished. For instance experienced
therapists in the area of Prolonged Grief Disorder encourage their clients
to have literal conversations with their deceased loved ones. There are
numerous advantages to maintaining your bond with a person who has
been of such crucial and lifelong importance. Non-rational views and
behavior have thus begun to slowly to factor into the practice of thera-
pists.
It is from the still relatively new psychological subdiscipline of cultural
psychology that we have been able to learn that the Western style of
thinking remains a singular instance among many other styles—for ex-
ample the mothers who mourn the loss of those children who became
refugees and died in frightful ways en route to their countries of exile.
These mothers are often deprived of the opportunity to express their grief
in a heartfelt manner. Much of what they report may sound peculiar to
listeners and even to mental health experts. A deep religiosity or spiritual-
ity which comes packaged in certain cultural mores may overwhelm the
rational Western therapist with their seeming strangeness. The concept of
magical thinking surely provides a road to better understanding the broad
range of phenomena which are apparently new to us in the Western hemi-
sphere.
Preface XI
There is much left to study in the field of severe grief reactions or Pro-
longed Grief Disorder—from a practioner’s viewpoint as well as from
that of more basic research. Christian Lönneker’s work on magical think-
ing in grief is an important building block in this endeavor.
Berlin, September 2018
Andreas Maercker, PhD MD
Professor of Psychology
