WAYS PEOPLE RESPOND TO CHANGE OR LOSS
|
| Model for Responding |
Focus |
Major Concerns |
Time Applicable |
Therapeutic Response |
Internal
Resources |
Available
Resources |
Inaccessible
awareness of change/loss |
Denial,
distortion,
destruction |
Self protection
Mental illness
Destructive behaviors |
As long as reality is not powerful enough & safety is absent. |
Reality has to be powerful enough.
Create safety. |
Find safety. |
Life experiences. |
Overwhelming change/loss/
trauma Shock |
Paralysis
Panic
Fight or flight |
Will to live
Reality
Vulnerability |
As long as a one
is a victim.
As long as the change lacks meaning. |
Contain
Validate
Trauma team treatment
Hold hope
|
Protection
Nurturance
Feedback |
Agencies, social
services: crisis teams |
Defend
against
change/loss |
Stressful:
Can create mental & physical illness |
Breakdown:
health -- function -- pleasure
Addictions |
Not self-correcting |
Distract
Intervene
Contain
Validate |
Enhance ways
to cope or
limit awareness |
Homeopathic
Psychiatric
Counseling
Religion
|
| Adapt to change/loss by surviving & coping |
Gain respite or delay from responding to loss |
Reduce fear of “craziness.”
Survive until grief can resume or progress. |
As long as intense feelings, thoughts & behaviors dominate the grieving process |
Learn ways to cope
Normalize
Validate |
Will to live
Self awareness
Recuperation |
Self-help groups
Hospice
bereavement
Stories of loss |
| Existential choice: Living or existing? |
Face the full
extent &
implications of the change |
Awareness of (e.g.):
• loneliness
• despair
• mortality
• emptiness
•helplessness |
Until choices are made or hope is found. |
Validate choices
Hold hope |
Experience loneliness
Self awareness
Discern:
What is lost
Connecting
beyond self |
Grief groups, Existential
therapy
Identify defining
moments |
Reframe
change as
challenge |
Grow/self
empower/
reformulate |
Make choices
Make restoration
Surrender control |
Usually years
after the change |
Discipline
Challenge
Reframe
Restore
Model integrity |
Discern:
What is left
Forgiveness
Self love
Solitude |
Humanistic &
Spiritual
disciplines |
Transform
loss |
Integrity of mind, body and spirit |
Living fully |
Present moment |
Make connections |
Inclusive Love
Discern: What is possible? |
Transpersonal
Psychology
Spirituality |
