Question
What is Primary, Secondary, and Symbolic loss?
Answer
When we talk about loss, I like to talk about it related to primary, secondary, and symbolic losses. Primary loss is typically referred to as a major loss. And then we have the secondary and symbolic losses that occur as a result of the primary loss. So, the primary loss, for example, maybe a loss due to death. So, maybe the death of a spouse.
A secondary loss for that person who is experiencing the loss of their spouse could be a loss of income. So, maybe that person was the primary breadwinner, and they are no longer there to work. They have also not only lost their spouse, but they have lost their financial income as well.
Symbolic losses are things more like a loss of identity. Someone who identifies as a spouse or as a husband, and then the wife dies, and then there is some question about “What is my role?” or “How do I identify?”. Also, things like the loss of a sense of future. So, maybe this spouse or a couple intended to live together, retire together, travel together, and now that is no longer a possibility. So that would be what we would consider a symbolic loss.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, A Pandemic of Loss: Coping with Grief, presented by Tami J. Micsky, DSW, MSSA, LSW, CT.
