Transitional Issues

A very natural part of the life span is transition. Change happens whenever we need or choose it to occur, and sometimes it is imposed on us without our consent. What it commonly entails is the end of some aspect of our life that has been familiar, comfortable, and quite possibly desirable.

The other integral part of this is that as some part of our life is ending, another is beginning with all the challenges that entails. Transition may be simple and fluid, or it may be difficult and trying.

Examples may include changing jobs, seeking new employment, the end or beginning of a relationship or the death of a loved one.

Regardless of the circumstances, each example entails for the individual an adjustment process requiring him/her to become acquainted, familiar, and resolved to the passage of one state of being to another.

For an individual who is grieving the death of a loved one, his/her transition is to adjust to life without that person. Resulting from the absence of that person, life may change profoundly. As transition may be very difficult, the focus is to assess what it entails in terms of emotional distress. Strategies and interventions are devised in order to facilitate an individual's ability to manage the process, and restore a sense of equilibrium.