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Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy
2026. Vol. 34, no. 1, 50–67
doi:10.17759/cpp.2026340103
ISSN: 2075-3470 / 2311-9446 (online)

Horizons of Experiencing Loss: Similarities and Differences between Grief and Regret

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. In the field of practical psychology, there is an increase in interest and demand for new competencies in the area of problems associated with experiencing loss. There is a number of approaches for psychological support of crisis states in clients experiencing various forms of loss, but these approaches are separated from each other. At the same time, regret and grief, as experiences-companions of the loss of personally significant values and meanings, appear not only of an acute crisis state. Both concepts are usually identified with each other, but regret is phenomenologically associated with a subjectively controlled choice, whereas grief more often refers to an unpredictable and uncontrollable situation. Objective. We aimed to theoretically compare and substantiate the differences between the concepts of “regret” and “grief”. Methods and materials. Comparison and analysis of existing theoretical views and empirical research in the field of grief and regret. Results. Grief differs from regret by its higher intensity and acuteness of the process; subjective unpredictability of the situation; the presence of a ritual component. Moreover, grief is retrospective and concerns the lost past. Regret, on the contrary, concerns the sphere of the possible (unfulfilled) and is characterized by the experience of greater responsibility of the individual for the emergence and outcome of the situation. Conclusions. Grief and regret are irreducible phenomena and can be experienced in parallel. A significant prospect of psychotherapeutic work with grief is strengthening the client’s contact with reality, accepting the situation of loss and building meaningful horizons in life, i.e. the vector of this work is directed from the past to the future. Work with regret is built around the restoration of subjectivity and authorship in the course of experiencing loss, reconstructing the value of the chosen alternative and finding a way to realize the value of the rejected one in current life — i.e. it focuses on the present.

General Information

Keywords: grief, regret, value, experience, emotional process, loss

Journal rubric: Research Reviews

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2026340103

Funding. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project number 23-78-10174, https://rscf.ru/project/23-78-10174/

Received 28.06.2025

Revised 12.12.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Fam, A.Kh., Belchenkova, A.V., Lebedeva, A.A. (2026). Horizons of Experiencing Loss: Similarities and Differences between Grief and Regret. Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 34(1), 50–67. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2026340103

© Fam A.Kh., Belchenkova A.V., Lebedeva A.A., 2026

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Anna k. Fam, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3523-6705, e-mail: afam@hse.ru

Antonina V. Belchenkova, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6696-5809, e-mail: belchenkova_a@mail.ru

Anna A. Lebedeva, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Senior Researcher, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Psychology; Senior Research Fellow: International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation, HSE University, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5919-5338, e-mail: anna.alex.lebedeva@gmail.com

Contribution of the authors

Fam A.K. — ideas; annotation, writing and design of the manuscript; planning of the research; coordination of the authors' work; control over the research.

Belchenkova A.V. — ideas; search for relevant scientific literature; creating the first draft of the manuscript.

Lebedeva A.A. — annotation; edition; work on the introduction, composition and final design of the manuscript.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and approved the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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