Abstract
The dominant psychiatric traditions have failed to clearly comprehend that ‘sadness’ is a basic facet of the human predicament and not a clinical disorder. It is true that grief and mourning are often grave departures from routine life, but it is not a morbid condition and there is no need to hand over the mourner for medical treatment. In grief counseling some of the richer facets of grief are seen: grief being a time for deep reflection on issues of the meaning of life and for commemorating the contributions of the lost one and make one’s love alive. Moving out of the conceptual and scientific issues concerning ‘depression’ and ‘sadness’, this study moves into the practical concerns of managing sadness and grief. The author’s own contributions to grief management using Buddhist resources and the mindfulness-based emotion focused therapy are presented in detail. The study also refers to the current revolution in emotions studies and presents a close look at the emotion profile of ‘sadness’.
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de Silva, P. (2012). The Lost Art of Sadness. In: Higgins, K., Sherman, D. (eds) Passion, Death, and Spirituality. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4650-3_13
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