64th Annual Conference

Friday, March 9

Morning Workshops

10:00 A.M.-1:15 P.M.

Workshop 52

Beyond the Grave—Early Parental Loss (Childhood to Age 25): Letting Go and Holding On

Chair:

Mary Sussillo, LCSW, BCD, Private Practice, New York, New York

Healthy mourning, while a profoundly private experience, cannot occur in a relational vacuum. The group members witness/validate the expression of deep grief. The leader/members facilitate the transformation of the earlier loss by restoring the mourner's vital connection to the dead parent; thus, the loss can be meaningfully integrated.

experiential, demonstration,  sharing of work experiences, didactic

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify the dual tasks of mourning.
2. Describe the contemporary research findings (including the Harvard Medical School Child Bereavement Study on how children/adolescents mourn adaptively.
3. Understand the analysts/members vital role in helping the group member "maintain continuity" with the dead parent and assist in the transformation of the loss.   

Course References:

1. Gaines, R. (1997). Detachment and Continuity. Contemporary Psychoanalysis. 33, 549-571.
2. Silverman, P., Nichman, S., and Worden, J. (1992). Detachment Revisited: The child's reconstruction of the dead parent. Amer. J. Orthopsychiatry. 62, 494-503.
3. Sussillo, M. (2005). Beyond the Grave-Adolescent Loss: Letting go and holding on. Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 4, 499-527.