Stages of loss experience as a guideline for socio-psychological assistance of personality
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to highlight the specifics of the experience of loss of personality against the background of crisis events in society, identify the sequence of stages of this experience, and identify areas for potential work of agents of socio-psychological support. Socio-psychological support is defined as a transforming tool in the process of human loss, which contributes to the restoration and reconstruction of the individual’s living space. There are five stages of experiencing loss: 1) meeting the reality of loss, 2) reconciling with loss, 3) understanding change, 4) finding and determining the meaning of loss, 5) integrating internal change into real life. A detailed analysis of the selected stages identified potential risks and focused on specific psychological tasks that allow for adequate psychological support. It is determined that at the stage of meeting with the reality of loss, the main task of socio-psychological support will be to help a person realize his loss; at the stage of reconciliation – to help a person accept the loss; at the stage of awareness of change – to ensure the adaptation process to life with loss, to help realize the point of no return to the past and to form a willingness to move on; at the stage of searching for meanings – through the awareness of one’s own finiteness to actualize personal values of loss; at the stage of integration – to help master all the achievements of the previous stages and qualitatively embody them in the new reality. The presented stages of experiencing loss during military and pandemic events can serve as a guide for socio-psychological support and be used by specialists for timely diagnosis of the experience of loss, to address its negative consequences, to turn a painful experience of loss into an existential resource. The prospect of further research is the development of specialized support programs using the proposed classification of stages of experiencing loss
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