64th Annual Conference

Friday, February 22

Morning Workshops

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

Master Workshop 53

The Transformative Power of Grieving in Group: Early Parental Loss (Childhood to Age 25)

Chair:

Mary Sussillo, LCSW, BCD, Adjunct Faculty, National Institute for Psychotherapies, New York, New York

Open to participants with more than ten years of group psychotherapy experience

While grieving is a uniquely personal experience, healthy mourning does not occur in a relational vacuum. It requires the presence of empathic others who assist the mourner of early loss to "work through" (rather than rush to closure, as the culture exemplifies) the dual tasks of mourning--continuity and separation.

Sharing of work experiences-didactic-experiential-demonstration

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Identify the dual tasks of mourning--continuity and separation.

2. Describe the analyst's and group members vital roles in helping the griever maintain continuity with lost loved ones.

3. Describe the American culture's impact on the group member's grieving process.

Course References:

1. P. Silverman, Nickman, S. and Worden, J. (1992). Detachment revisited: the child's reconstruction of the dead parent. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62:93-104.

2. Gaines, R. (1997), Detachment and continuity. Contemporary Psychoanalysis.33:549-571.

3. Sussillo, M. (2005), Beyond the grave--adolescent parental loss: letting go and holding on. Psychoanalysis Dialogue. 15:499-527.