ABSTRACT
Professionals will be involved at many points in the lives of persons with self- or other-loss. Families and individuals will face numerous critical incidents, as well as times of increased stress from the nature of the loss and the process of chronic sorrow. Permissions refers to the therapist's ability to convey acceptance and approval of the client's coping attempts, even and especially when the client is deviating from customary and past ways of managing life. The traumatic loss that is central to chronic sorrow frequently results in drastic damage to self-esteem and self-confidence. Relinquishing fantasies in some instances of other-loss is much more difficult when the subject of the loss often appears normal. Careful and consistent management of interpersonal boundaries is crucial to the client's sense of safety, as is skillful support and modulation of affect. The initial diagnostic assessment is most often conducted by several professionals, each with her own area of competence.
