Individuals who seek psychotherapy frequently contend with various manifestations of loss—the death of a significant other, personal setbacks or failures, the deterioration or perceived decline of mental or physical faculties, or the imminent approach of death itself. Each person endeavors to recover what has been lost. However, that which is lost does not return in its original form. In
this talk, the concept of loss within the context of psychotherapy will be examined—not through the conventional framework of “mourning work,” but rather from a dialectical, specifically Jungian, perspective.