How we Deal with Loss

Gestalt Therapy - Living Here and Now

During the summer we may have more time to think and reflect. When you have suffered a loss this summer-period could bring up those heavy feelings of grief and sadness. In this episode I talk about how we deal with loss.

Figure of today

There are many kinds of losses. The loss of a loved one, a pet, a job, a marriage and so on. In the Figure of today I also talk about my own loss and how I experienced it and how it affects me still.

How is this important?

Grieving and dealing with loss is very important. We need some kind of reassurance that life will not be so painful, meaningless or chaotic forever. And that it is allowed to laugh or feel happy.

I talk about the well known five stages of grief model by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance and how this might be too linear and that a person can go through these stages randomly. Today the more widely used Dual model by Stroebe and Shut are also discussed.

What’s Gestalt in all of this?

When it comes to working with a grieving person as a therapist, I believe that an important part of therapy or counseling is to be there with the bereaved person. Not in a fix it mode but in a listening processing way. Experiencing the pain and emotions in the moment.

References :

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, “On Death and Dying” (1969)

Margaret Stroebe, Henk Schut (1999): THE DUAL PROCESS MODEL OF COPING WITH

BEREAVEMENT: RATIONALE AND DESCRIPTION, Death Studies, 23:3, 197-224 To link to this article:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/074811899201046

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https://www.willegestalt.eu/

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Just a quick disclaimer:

All case stories are anonymised and no clients are directly quoted without prior written consent.

And remember any information you hear on this podcast, see on the willegestalt website, Facebook page or Instagram is for information purposes only and should never be a substitute for actual mental and/or medical advice from a doctor, psychiatrist or, any other health professional

Music courtesy of TrackTribe - Longer Distance