Mourning and the prevention of melancholia

Freud suggested that a high level of ambivalence in the previous relationship between the bereaved and the deceased was likely to complicate the process of mourning, perhaps leading to melancholia. Within a study testing the effectiveness of preventive intervention, a subgroup of recently bereaved widows ( n = 22) were rated as having had a highly ambivalent marital relationship with their spouses. Psychotherapeutic intervention to promote the resolution of the ambivalence within the mourning process was given to a randomly selected group of these women during the first three months following the husbands' deaths. All subjects were followed up independently by questionnaire 13 months after the death. Intervention subjects ( n = 12) showed significantly better general health and a lower level of depressive illness than controls ( n = 10)

Ambivalence · Intervention (counseling) · Melancholia · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Clinical Psychology · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Psychology

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  Simon Shimshon Rubin, Netta Schechter•American Journal of Orthopsychiatry•1997

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  Deborah Murray, Deborah J Terry John C Judith A Murray•Death Studies•2000

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  Open Access•Simon Shimshon Rubin•British Journal of Medical…•1984

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• Counseling the Bereaved

  Open Access•Beverley Raphael, Kenneth Nunn•Journal of Social Issues•1988

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• Treatment of the Depressions of Bereavement

  Open Access•Sidney Zisook, Stephen R Shuchter•American Behavioral Scientist•2001

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