Some observations on the process of mourning

Kernberg, Otto F.

doi:10.1111/j.1745-8315.2010.00286.x

Cited by 40 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…According to Kernberg, this transference aspect reflects the double function of the mourning process -superego restructuring and maintaining the relationship [17]. Using Pargament's words, we can say that the analyst helps conserving the sacred in a situation of loss.…”

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, Kernberg highlights the spiritual aspect of mourning. He proposes -a permanent relationship between the representation of self and the representation of the lost object, the combination of an intrapsychic presence of that object, and the awareness of its objective permanent absence‖ [17]. On the one hand, there is now no more forgiveness nor repair with the lost person.…”

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…-The function of grave-stones, memorial monuments, pictures and photographs and works of art symbolically representing the lost person derive their consoling function from the assurance that the dead person is still out there, somewhere, in the external world‖ [17].…”

Section: Is Consolation Possible?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…-The irresistible urge for reunion, the fantasy and concern over life after death, the expanding moral universe related to the mandate all combine in the expression of powerful religious impulses, whether they take the form of adherence to an established religious belief system, or are constructed individually as a painful yet indispensable aspect of spiritual existence and survival‖ [17].…”

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They become, as mentioned before, ethical commands and aspired for ideals. Reparative processes, in short, expand into spiritual demands‖ [17].…”

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Transforming Losses―A Major Task of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

Frick

2011

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since Freud's -Mourning and Melancholia‖, bereavement encompasses the dilemma between continuing versus relinquishing bonds to deceased persons. Mourning is the process of symbolizing the loss, of making sense by facing the conflict between the absence of the lost object and the continuing presence of an emotional relationship to that which is lost. Furthermore, mourning is not limited to bereaved persons but also concerns dying persons and, in a broader sense, our whole symbolic life which is playful coping with a rhythm of absence and presence. True consolation connects the individual and the archetypical mourning. Spiritually integrated psychotherapy may accompany this process by amplification. Christian mysticism takes its starting point from the experience of Jesus Christ's lost body, and this may be understood as a model of spiritual transformation.

show abstract

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Is Consolation Possible?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They become, as mentioned before, ethical commands and aspired for ideals. Reparative processes, in short, expand into spiritual demands‖ [17].…”

Section: Mourning's Spiritual Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Transforming Losses―A Major Task of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

Frick

2011

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

When Unconscious Wishes Become Laws: Policing Memory and Identity in Israel and Palestine

Cohen

2012

Appl Psychoanal Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper proposes a psychoanalytically‐informed model for the policing of memory and identity in Israel and Palestine. Borrowing from both empirically‐ and clinically‐validated insights into psychopathology, it purports to account for the increasingly frequent attempts of the Israeli government to suppress alternatives to the extant Zionist narrative using legislative and administrative means. The model explains why, counter‐intuitively, these attempts to impose an idealized Zionist narrative have markedly increased in the past several years, at a time when Israel's military power, geographical expansion and economic prosperity are arguably at an all‐time high. Supported by examples from both world history and Israeli documents, the proposed model suggests a dynamic link between trauma, annihilation anxiety, hyper‐vigilance and defensive behavior on a nation‐wide level, which runs as a leitmotiv in both Israeli government actions and in sentiments expressed by a considerable portion of Israeli society, from the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948. The model further uses psychodynamic insights to account for the cognitive‐emotional rigidity underpinning the discrepancy in the perceptions of reality between Israel's narrative and its sundry worldwide alternatives. The model posits that this growing discrepancy between worldwide public opinion and Israeli internal reasoning may underlie the growing disapproval and isolation of Israel in both diplomatic circles and world media. Finally, following psychodynamically‐oriented therapeutic practices, the explanatory power of the model is harnessed to suggest potentially effective remedial attitudes and interventions, whose mutative powers may be of use to psychodynamically‐trained mental health professionals who may be involved in future reconciliation efforts between Israel and Palestine. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

The Blossoms of Loss: Ovid’s Floral Metamorphoses and Poussin’sRealm of Flora

Tutter

2014

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alluring and fertile, the flower connotes a locus of desire. The floral metamorphic myths narrated in Ovid's Metamorphoses (AD 8a) thematize the price of desire--the shame, grief, and rage of rejection and rivalrous defeat--and symbolize the generative transformation that frustrated desire and competitive loss can promote. In the deceptively beautiful painting Realm of Flora of 1631, Nicolas Poussin enlists these myths as allegories of his own great creative leap, an aesthetic metamorphosis that followed shattering defeats. Extending the association between creativity and object loss to competitive loss, Poussin holds a mirror to our powerful drive to prevail and create anew from the ashes of loss.

show abstract

Some observations on the process of mourning

Cited by 40 publications

References 6 publications

Transforming Losses―A Major Task of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

Transforming Losses―A Major Task of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

When Unconscious Wishes Become Laws: Policing Memory and Identity in Israel and Palestine

The Blossoms of Loss: Ovid’s Floral Metamorphoses and Poussin’sRealm of Flora

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About