I am working on completing my Literature Review and am have been debating on whether or not I want to include this concept. My title is for my proposal is - 'Coping with loss and ambiguity: Exploring resiliency in adult daughters of alcoholics' - 'ADOAFs' is short for adult daughters of alcoholic fathers. So this population already experiences 'psychological absence' (or emotional absence/unavailability from their alcoholic fathers); however, a large % of ADOAFs also experience divorce during their childhood as well, which is the other type of ambiguous loss 'physical loss' (as a result of the divorce and separation - father now being out of the picture). So if anyone has any feedback or suggestions please feel free to comment/share below. Thanks!
Hi Jenelle,
Perhaps if you relate resilience to the use of a 'coping strategy' (active, passive, etc....) the things might get even more interesting.
Best,
Irena
We actually translate the ambiguous loss scale into the German language, and validate it. In case of severe alcoholism, the term ambiguous loss certainly is justified. My best, Philipp
I see potential in viewing alcoholism as an ambiguous loss. Very interesting angle.
Good luck with your study!
Dana - Yes thats actually what I plan on exploring - that is, the 'coping and/or healing process' of adult daughters of alcoholic fathers and divorce - so not only ares they experiencing 'ambiguous loss' but dual ambiguity, meaning they have experienced both types ('psychological absence or loss' - emotional absence/detachment from their fathers due his drinking etc. and 'physical absence or loss - once their and/or after their parents divorce). Phillip & Dana - and Pauline Boss, based on her research has identified caring and/or having a family member who is dealing w/a chronic mental illness, Alzheimer's, Dementia, as well as 'addiction' are all forms of ambiguous loss (psychological loss). There is a lack of qualitative research in this area, regarding addiction, so I am hoping I can add some knowledge or new findings to this area of study! Thanks so much for y'alls feedback! ~ Jenelle
Jenelle, greetings! Not exactly to your question, but here is Dr. Boss' presentation on the topic of your interest. she presented last year at a national conference: https://www.ncfr.org/sites/default/files/downloads/news/317_ncfr_myth_of_closure_final_11.8.13.pdf
Additionally, couple of videos where she speaks on the topic might be of interest for you also:
https://www.ncfr.org/news/video-watch-full-ambiguous-loss-talk-pauline-boss-jay-mancini
https://www.ncfr.org/professional-resources/video-lexicon/pauline-boss-ambiguous-loss
I had a privilege to talk with her briefly after her presentation last year.
Trust these help!
Wow! Thanks so much Ilya for the links. I plan to check all of them out this evening. Thanks again! ~ Jenelle
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