ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Wright explores the theme of loss in the context of our rapidly changing world and what that means relationally. She discusses how in extreme and frightening ways we are facing the loss of the comforting predictable routines that coloured our world. In the coronavirus pandemic, the immediate context of her writing, she argues that we are also being cut off from real contact with our loved ones – a fundamental attachment need. However, this is part of the wider loss of religious and social structures that used to connect people and the gradual erosion of close communities as a result of urbanization and industrialization and more recently, globalization and the digital revolution. These are part of a trend Anthony Giddens called detraditionalization and have led to what Paul Tillich described as the Age of Meaninglessness. The author also explores how the losses we currently face include not only people but our attachment to nature. With the development of eco-psychotherapy, there is a growing awareness how important our attachment to nature is and the stark realization that we face a climate emergency. Wright refers to the work of writers who argue that instead of pathologizing “eco-anxiety” and calling on therapists to work with this, we should view it as a natural grief for what we are losing. From this perspective, helping people to articulate and process their grief is important. The chapter includes case discussions, and Wright turns to attachment theory and the writings of relational psychotherapists to make sense of her observations.
