When did people start talking about getting "closure" ?

[raccoon]

What started all that?

Also, lots of times you’re Just not gonna get closure.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Good question

Well. Never one to fear to rush in where angels fear to tread ... I think it was a pop-psy thing from the 70s or 80s. Pop psy became a thing in the latter half of the 70s with authors like Wayne Dyer. Suddenly psychology was about what can it do for me, not just what does my analyst say. But don't close out the subject on my account.

I can definitely say the term was in pop culture by 1991 because it was used in an early episode of Northern Exposure when Maggie helped Joel get closure by impersonating his ex at a cafe table on a cold sidewalk. If that helps.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. I don't know, either. And when I hear about closure, I usually...

hear about how victims didn't get the closure they thought they were owed.

Musta been an article in Psycholgy Today that started it all.

[LisaM]

4. I think it's an off shoot of Gestalt Therapy.

So the concept would go back to the late 1940s, early 1950s (and would be connected to actual therapy). In practice, I.agree with other posters that it probably started appearing in popular culture in the 1970s.

[hlthe2b]

5. Many decades ago. Gestalt theory

When, exactly, it was applied to the issue of grief and recovery, I couldn't say.

[Chainfire]

6. I thought that closure was the device that operated the restaurant door.

Acceptance is probably a better term. One thing about a long life is you see a lot of things go bad, friends and families die, you lose a good job, your sister becomes a drug addict. Your country goes all Fascist on you. Getting over it is what life is about.

[Donkees]

7. Probably Oprah

[Deuxcents]

8. There's no such thing as closure.. imo.

[2naSalit]

9. I noticed it in the 80s...

It seems to coincide with work becoming the main focus and conformity was expected which included taking what little was allowed time for bereavement and then get over it because nobody wants to hear about your bummer. It was before allowing time off for a death in the family was common for most workers.

[3catwoman3]

10. I agree with Deuxcents in post #8 above - no such thing as closure. It's a BS idea.

"Closure" suggests, IMO, that something is over and done with, all tied up with a neat little bow in an emotional box. Fini, done, finished.

My younger brother and only sibling died much too young at age 23 in 1978. A scuba diving adventure that ended badly. When you have lost a family member, whether to an unexpected event like a fatal accident, or to a lingering terminal illness, you are forever changed, and you never "get over it." You get used to it. I still miss him.

[Laurelin]

11. Thank you

I always hated that "closure" term. Grief and loss can be life altering. I don't think you can always just move on after some finite time. You keep living and adjust but "closure" sounds like some magic switch that just makes things all better.