Author(s): Stephanie Sarazin

Psychology and Personal Development

As humans, we are united by the experience of grief, something we will all know when a loved one dies. We've been taught that this grief-the type that marks an irreversible end-is the most profound type of grief we will ever experience; that only this type of grief calls for a period of deep mourning. But there is another state of grief-one we have less understanding about and rarely discuss. We feel this grief when our loved one is alive but there's been a change or break in the relationship-a divorce from a spouse, a parent's degenerative brain disease, a child's descent into drug abuse, the incarceration of a partner. How do we grieve when someone we love is living and breathing but lost to us? As an extension of psychologist Pauline Boss's theory of "ambiguous loss," in which the death of a loved one cannot be confirmed, grief educator Stephanie Sarazin sought to understand what makes grief different when it's not the loss that's ambiguous, but the grief. In teasing-out those distinctions she identified and named this the "ambiguous grief process." In Soulbroken, Sarazin will help you recognize the nuances of ambiguous grief, guiding you along q journey toward understanding your grief, making meaning of if, and when ready, moving forward. Using principles drawn from her own experience, Sarazin shares advice for regaining your equilibrium after an earth-shattering loss. With compassion, grace, and authenticity, Sarazin presents practical fools, personal narratives, and exercises that encourage you to dig into your experience, examine your hopes, and reimagine life on the other side of your loss. Book jacket.