The psychology of loss as a lens to a positive psychology

This article argues for the development of a field concerned with the psych ology of loss that is interdisciplinary in nature and focused on people's p ervading sense of loss. The psychology of loss may be defined as broader th an related fields such as traumatology, thanatology, and stress and coping. It focuses on the perception of major loss deriving from events such as de ath and divorce bur also on this perception in connection with diverse phen omena. An important research topic for this field concerns people's imputed meanings to losses in their lives and their activities of developing stori es of losses and confiding those stories to close others as they cope with the losses This article describes basic principles of loss that may be obse rved across varied loss events. It is argued that this development of a psy chology of loss will contribute invaluable perspective to developments in w ork on positive psychology.