Understanding and Responding to Ambiguous Loss

In this episode, Dr. Pauline Boss, esteemed scientist practitioner who coined the term 'Ambiguous Loss,' discusses the meaning of Ambiguous Loss and how it differs from other losses. Drawing upon powerful examples, Dr. Boss discusses physical ambiguous loss and psychological ambiguous loss due to dementia from disease, brain injury etc. She clarifies that Ambiguous Loss is not a result of pathology, but rather the ambiguity of the circumstances of loss. Using examples like the families of 9-11 she describes the understandable impact on a family when a parent is gone but loss cannot be substantiated. With the aim of building resilience rather than pathologizing, Dr. Boss discusses the Psychological Family, the Family Narrative and the ability to engage Dialectical Thinking - 'my husband is both absent and present in our hearts and minds.' Dr. Boss references Victor Frankel’s Importance Of Finding Meaning, Adjusting Mastery Up Or Down and discovering 'New Hope' by risking change.