What is ambiguous loss?

Ambiguous loss is a concept that was designed and developed and coined by Dr. Pauline Boss, a psychologist who’s now in her 80s, and it’s really the idea that it’s a non-traditional grief and a caregiver, even the person with dementia, in the early stages may be grieving losses. So ambiguous loss defined is really a loss that’s unclear, a loss that has no resolution, it has no predictable ending or closure, and it happens when the person who is developing dementia is physically present but cognitively or emotionally changed.