ABSTRACT
Clients in treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) often have a history of losses that the client has not grieved. To maximize recovery efforts, not only must we treat the SUD, but we also need to acknowledge and address the underlying losses. Recognizing the impact of loss on recovery provides the client with an enhanced understanding of the relationship between grief and addiction. This chapter presents an overview of the types of losses that occur during the time of entering treatment, losses that occur while using, and losses that affected the client prior to problematic substance use.
