The Phenomenology of Bereavement, Grief, and Mourning

Loss, understood as a process of bereavement, grief, and mourning, most immediately affects our bodily experience in our world, known in the phenomenological tradition as our lived world. Unlike Cartesian conceptions of the body as a self-contained entity, encapsulated within the skin, our bodying forth, as articulated in the discourse of Merleau-Ponty, and more recently Drew Leder, entails various manifestations of lived experience. These reflections on miscarriage loss, understood through the notions of Merleau-Ponty's chiasmic structure of flesh, and Drew Leder's recessive, ecstatic, and dys-appearing body, provides the possibility for a phenomenology of lived loss.     

Goodbye,Daddy: An Autoethnographic Journey Through the Grief and Mourning Process

The purpose of this article is to present an autoethonographic study in how I experienced and communicated parts of the mourning process when my father died at the age of 73. The article highlights the stages of grief experienced during the first year. Autoethnographic means are used chronologically to explore how the loss of a family member impacts the stages of grief that are present and how they overlap. In particular, I highlight the events that carried meaning or provided an outlet to express one of the stages of grief. It is hoped that this article can be used to understand why grieving is not an overnight process, but rather is drawn out through the highs and lows of remembering a loved one.     

On Grief and Mourning: Thinking a Feeling,Back to Bob Solomon

The paper considers various ruminations on the aftermath of the death of a close one, and the processes of grieving and mourning. The conceptual examination of how grief impacts on its sufferers, from different cultural perspectives, is followed by an analytical survey of current thinking among psychologists, psychoanalysts and philosophers on the enigma of grief, and on the associated practice of mourning. Robert C. Solomon reflected deeply on the 'extreme emotion' of grief in his extensive theorizing on the emotions, particularly in his essay 'On Grief and Gratitude', commenting that grief is 'often described as a very private, personal emotion, characterized by social withdrawal and shutting oneself off from the world' (2004: 73). While dialoguing with the spirit of Solomon by way also of a tribute to his immense insights, the paper engages in critical reflections on recent thinking in this area elsewhere - notably, in Heidegger, Freud, Nussbaum, Casey, Gustafson, and Kristeva - and offers a refreshing critique toward an alternative to the received wisdom.     

From Mourning to Action: African American Women's Grief,Pain, and Activism

The Movement for Black Lives has brought particular attention to the experience of grief in the lives of African American mothers and its use in their advocacy for social reform. Grief-inspired activism is historically significant in the African American community. By highlighting the historical connections between Mamie Bradley Till and present-day African American mothers’ grief over their deceased children, we will discuss the role of grief and mourning in the lives of African American mothers and the way in which their grief is pivotal in shaping their involvement in social justice movements. Furthermore, we will provide suggestions on how to promote social activism among African American mothers.     

Using Relaxation Techniques with Individuals and with Groups

The use of biofeedback, meditation, deep breathing relaxation, and imagery relaxation with individuals and with groups is described. The physical and mental well-being of people depends on learning ways to relax. Relaxation techniques reduce high levels of stress by facilitating the mind to switch from dwelling on day-to-day concerns to instead dwcll on relaxing themes. The body always responds to thinking processes; when the mind switches from dwellir~g on distressing thoughts to relaxing thoughts, the body becomes more relaxed.     

From Neurotic Guilt to Existential Guilt as Grief: The Road to Interiority, Agency, and Compassion Through Mourning. Part II

This study is a continuation of an article that was published in the previous issue of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis (Volume 66, Number 3, September 2006). The case of Helen is illustrated in terms of the analysand’s developmental mourning, countertransference, interiority, antilibidinal ego, and transformation of aggression into self-agency.Susan Kavaler-Adler, Ph.D., ABPP, is Founder and Executive Director, Training Analyst, Faculty Member, and Supervisor at the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York.     

Cross-Lagged Analyses of Prolonged Grief and Depression Symptoms With Insomnia Symptoms

Prolonged grief disorder, characterized by severe, persistent and disabling grief, has recently been added to the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11. Treatment for prolonged grief symptoms shows limited effectiveness. It has been suggested that prolonged grief symptoms exacerbate insomnia symptoms, whereas insomnia symptoms, in turn, may fuel prolonged grief symptoms. To help clarify if treating sleep disturbances may be a viable treatment option for prolonged grief disorder, we examined the proposed reciprocal relationship between symptoms of prolonged grief and insomnia. On three time points across 6-month intervals, 343 bereaved adults (88% female) completed questionnaires to assess prolonged grief, depression, and insomnia symptoms. We applied random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to assess reciprocal within-person effects between prolonged grief and insomnia symptoms and, as a secondary aim, between depression and insomnia symptoms. Changes in insomnia symptoms predicted changes in prolonged grief symptoms but not vice versa. Additionally, changes in depression and insomnia symptoms showed a reciprocal relationship. Our results suggest that targeting insomnia symptoms after bereavement is a viable option for improving current treatments for prolonged grief disorder.     

Grief and Recovery: The Prevalence of Grief and Loss in Substance Abuse Treatment

Grief from various losses can underlie the process of recovery from substance abuse disorders. This study identified losses that clients encountered prior to abusing substances, losses that occurred as a result of addiction, and losses that occurred upon entering treatment.     

Mourning and psychosis: a psychoanalytic perspective

The author attempts to develop some of the basic models and concepts relating to mourning processes in psychotic patients on the assumption that situations of loss and mourning are key moments for psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and therapeutic approaches in general. Secondly, he reminds us that 'mourning processes in psychotics' are not always 'psychotic mourning processes', that is to say, that they do not necessarily occur within, or give rise to, a psychotic clinical picture. These ideas are illustrated by a number of sessions and vignettes concerning two psychotic patients in psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic treatment. In theoretical terms, it seems vitally important in this context to combine a relationship-based approach within a framework of special psychoanalytic psychopathology with an updated view of processes of mourning and affective loss. A fundamental requirement at clinical level is to determine the role to be played by psychoanalytically based treatments in combined, integrated or global therapies when working with psychotic patients. For this purpose, the paper ends by outlining a set of principles and objectives for such treatments.     

Genetic Library: Grief and Bereavement

As genetic counselors, we frequently encounter families that have experienced a significant loss, be it a pregnancy, a child, or a parent. The purpose of this Genetic Library is to introduce genetic counselors to some of the research that is currently being conducted in the areas of grief and bereavement support, as well as end-of-life care. Of course, it is impossible to capture the richness of these articles in one or two paragraphs. We therefore encourage interested genetic counselors to request and review the full version of these papers.     

Systems Techniques in Family Therapy: Two Pragmatic Approaches

Duhl, F.J. The Use of the Chronological Chart in General Systems Family Therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 1981, 7, 361–373. Resnikoff, R.R. Teaching Family Therapy: Ten Key Questions for Understanding the Family as Patient. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 1981, 7, 135–142.     

Sorrow and the Sage: Grief in the Zhuangzi

The Zhuangzi offers two apparently incompatible models of bereavement. Zhuangzi sometimes suggests that the sage will greet loss with unfractured equanimity and even aplomb. However, upon the death of his own wife, Zhuangzi evinces a sorrow that, albeit brief, fits ill with this suggestion. In this essay, I contend that the grief that Zhuangzi displays at his wife’s death better honors wider values averred elsewhere in the text and, more generally, that a sage who retains a capacity for sorrow will be better positioned for the robust joy so often identified as central to the Zhuangzi’s vision of flourishing. The sagely figures who entirely forego sorrow, I argue, achieve equanimity only through a sacrifice of the emotional range and responsiveness necessary not only for grief but also for the delight Zhuangzi recommends.     

Parent-Child Psychotherapy: A Follow-Up Study Comparing Two Techniques

The “lost letter technique” was validated against actual election returns in two randomly selected precincts in Greensboro, North Carolina. The technique was not successful in predicting the outcome of the presidential race. It was found that letters addressed to The Health Research Center were significantly more likely to be returned than letters addressed to presidential candidates. This indicated that the failure to predict was due either to voter apathy in this particular election or to an active dislike of both candidates.     

Elton Mayo and Carl Rogers: A Tale of Two Techniques

This article examines the simultaneous appearance of nonauthoritarian interviewing and nondirective counseling, two highly similar methods introduced by two different people, Elton Mayo and Carl Rogers. The similarities and differences between the methods and their developers are evaluated against the historical context in which they appear.