Toward a psychology of loss

This article argues for the development of an interdisciplinary psychology of lass that is focused on people's pervading commonsense experience and re cognition of loss in their own and others' lives. This field may be defined as broader than related fields such as traumatology, thanatology, and stre ss and coping. The psychology of loss focuses on the perception of major lo ss deriving from events such as death and divorce, bur also on the percepti on of major loss in connection with such diverse phenomena as loss of emplo yment, loss of bodily functioning, and being the target of violence or prej udice, including genocide. An important research topic for this field conce rns people's stories of how major losses are interrelated in their lives. I t is argued that perceived loss is a critical phenomenal state that must be dealt with in adaptation to most significant stressors.