Premium
Mourning distinct from melancholia: The resolution of bereavement
Author(s) -
Rubin Simon Shimshon
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1984.tb02599.x
Subject(s) - psychology , premise , melancholia , object (grammar) , grief , dimension (graph theory) , resolution (logic) , psychoanalysis , object relations theory , social psychology , cognitive psychology , psychotherapist , epistemology , psychoanalytic theory , artificial intelligence , philosophy , mathematics , mood , computer science , pure mathematics
The premise that mourning has been satisfactorily completed when symptoms associated with the response to loss subside is rejected. The emphasis on the bereaved's behavioural functioning in adjustment to loss has tended to overshadow the recollected relationship to the deceased as a major dimension in the resolution of loss. Elaborating the two‐track model of bereavement (Rubin, 1981), the author focuses upon the relationship to the representations of the deceased from the object relations point of view. The active relationship between representations of the deceased and the bereaved's self‐representations define resolution of loss. Two cases are presented to illustrate the thesis.