Re-Release: Dr. Pauline Boss "Ambiguous Loss"

The Deconstructionists

Guest Info/Bio: This week we speak with Dr. Pauline Boss. Pauline is an educator and researcher who is widely recognized for her groundbreaking research on what is now known as the theory of ambiguous loss. All losses are touched with ambiguity. Yet, Dr. Boss’s research and practice have revealed that those who suffer ambiguous loss, losses without finality or resolution, bear a particular and challenging burden. Whether it is the experience of caring for a parent who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, or waiting to learn the fate of a spouse or family member who has disappeared in a disastrous event like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, the experience of loss is magnified and is more significantly challenging to overcome because the loss is linked to a lack of closure. People who experience and live with an ambiguous loss find it hard to understand their situation, difficult to cope and almost impossible to move ahead with their lives without professional counseling, love and support. Since 1973, Dr. Boss has studied ambiguous loss, and trained and worked with psychologists and counselors to help individuals and families who have experienced a life-altering ambiguous loss, often described as a frozen grief, recover their resiliency despite the on-going ambiguity. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Dr. Boss is committed to working with families to develop meaningful strategies that help them cushion the pain, cope with ambiguous loss and move forward to live productive lives. Pauline Boss received her Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975. From 1975 to 1981, Dr. Boss was an assistant and then associate professor with tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1981, she joined the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota and continued to work in that position until 2005. In 1995-96, Dr. Boss was appointed Visiting Professor at the Harvard Medical School, and in 2004-2005, she was the Moses Distinguished Professor at the Hunter School of Social Work in New York City.

(Selected) Guest Publications: Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief; Loving Someone Who Has Dementia: How to Find Hope while Coping with Stress and Grief; Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss

Guest Website/Social Media:

www.ambiguousloss.com

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