Abstract
The present study aim understand the experiences of lesbians widows according to an existential-phenomenological perspective. Two phenomenological open-end interviews were conducted with the following starter question: "How was it for you to lose your wife?". The interviews were analyzed according to the Giorgi's phenomenological method. Data were grouped into the following essential constituents which describe the structure of the homosexual female widowhood experience: Discrimination, Loss of life-world's meaning, Solitude, Changes in mood and health, Restructuring routine, Changes in affective life's project, Lack of recognition of being a couple, Suffering invisibility, Being silenced, Limitation of pain's expression, Support network, Rejected or accepted by the families, Need to look for their rights and Need for self-respect and self-recognition as lesbian. The results indicate mental suffering in homosexual widowhood due to the lack of social recognition and lack of legitimacy of lesbian couples' affection and loss. We conclude that a structured support network and structured health care are essential to minimize suffering in lesbian widowhood and to construct new meanings in bereavement.
Keywords:
Bereavement; widowhood; lesbianism; Phenomenological-Existential Psychology