Resolution: The metabolization of early loss in the life of the self.
Item
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Title
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Resolution: The metabolization of early loss in the life of the self.
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Identifier
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AAI9946140
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identifier
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9946140
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Creator
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Bergner, Sharone.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arietta Slade
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Date
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1999
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
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Abstract
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Loss of a parent in early life is an event of profound, life-long significance for a person. While there is consensus in the psychoanalytic theoretical and clinical literature regarding the long-lasting effects of such a loss, the notion that some measure of resolution might be achieved is sometimes offered, but little clarity exists as to what such resolution consists of and how one might achieve it. This thesis investigates the meaning and elaborates a conceptualization of the term "resolution" with respect to early parental loss. Toward this end, advances in psychoanalytic views of the child's experience of loss are examined and used to elucidate and critique contemporary psychoanalytic notions of the adult's relationship to early loss. The contribution of John Bowlby, the father of attachment theory, is evaluated in detail, and a view of the legacy of loss that combines psychoanalytic theory and attachment theory is offered.;Two theoretical dialogues are undertaken. The first, between Sigmund Freud's and Melanie Klein's theories of mourning, concludes with a suggested view of the mourning process and its outcome that integrates aspects of Freud's view into a primarily Kleinian frame of reference. The second, between the contemporary Kleinians, clinical writings and attachment theorists, writings regarding the research-based evaluation of the organization of early relational histories, offers an approach that combines these perspectives. The Adult Attachment Interview is closely examined in this dialogue, and suggestions are made for the development of an interview-based approach to the evaluation of the legacy of early loss. The suggested approach differs from the Adult Attachment Interview's by being specifically tuned to the question of resolution of loss, as well as in its self-affect-other phantasy-focus and its use of countertransference, the latter two being seminal features of the contemporary Kleinians, way of working. In conclusion, a conceptualization of resolution that places affect, phantasy and intersubjectivity at its center is proposed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
