For many it is impossible to discuss loss, and the ramifications can last a lifetime. One the most memorable Saturday morning radio programs of my childhood during the late 1940s were about what happened to lost toys. Its theme still haunts me. A fatherly fish named Red Lantern guided two children (who surely I identified as my brother David and me) deep into the Land of the Lost. Every show opened with the same line: “In that wonderful kingdom at the bottom of the sea” lost objects are stored beneath the waves. In the fathomless deep could be found precious objects waiting to be claimed by their child.I remember going to sleep with the voice of the Red Lantern, most memorably played by the late Art Carney, soothing me deep to the land of dreams. At the bottom of my sea was a teddy bear I particularly loved and slept with every night until once, sick with a bug, I vomited all over it. I remember crying and crying when I could not find him again, and those dream times in the depth of the ocean helped make the loss more palatable. I seemed to know that love, although no longer tangible, could always be found in the heart.Loss at any age can provoke anxiety and is never easy to cope with. A loss can take many forms; a friend moving, pet dying, divorce of parents, or the death of a loved one. Over the years in my private practice, many children and young adults have shared the pain they have felt when families were torn apart through divorce or death. Heartbreaking also, are tales of young lives snuffed out in sudden car crashes or horrific accidents.
