Attachment--and loss.

Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

Childhood and Society.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/5/110/206.full.pdf

The american psychological association.

There are shortcomings in traditional theorizing about effective ways of coping with bereavement, most notably , with respect to the so - called "grief work hypothesis . " Criticisms include imprecise definition , failure to represent dynamic processing that is characteristic of grieving , lack of empirical evidence and validation across cultures and historical periods , and a limited focus on intrapersonal processes and on health outcomes . Therefore , a revised model of coping with bereavement , the dual process model , is proposed . This model identifies two types of stressors , loss - and restoration - oriented , and a dynamic , regulatory coping process of oscillation , whereby the grieving individual at times confronts , at other times avoids , the different tasks of grieving . This model proposes that adaptive coping is composed of confrontation avoidance of loss and restoration stressors . It also argues the need for dosage of grieving , that is , the need to take respite from dealing with either ...

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The dual process model of coping with bereavement: rationale and description

The dual Process model of coping with bereavement : Rationale and description

Sustaining meaning in life, maintaining emotional well-being, and balancing attachments to the living and the deceased are features associated with the psychological (and often private) impact of loss. In the Two-Track Model of Bereavement, the loss process is conceptualized along two distinct but interactive axes that attend to these overt and covert aspects of the response to loss. Whereas Track I is concerned with biopsychosocial functioning in the wake of loss, it is Track II that focuses on the bereaved's ongoing emotional attachment and relationship to the deceased. The contributions of the model to theory and research can serve to clarify our thinking about bereavement as a process resonating throughout one's life. Initially, research and clinical findings from bereaved parents are presented to illustrate the Two-Track Model and its contribution to the deepening of our understanding of loss throughout the life cycle. The contributions of the model to clinical practice are then considered for their ...

The two-track model of bereavement: overview, retrospect, and prospect.

Parental response to child loss across the life cycle: Clinical and research perspectives.

With few exceptions, parents are able to love and care deeply for all their children, whether these be few or many in number. In times of life crisis, parents may become temporarily unable to find the resources within themselves to actively manage their relationships with their children, but this situation is generally time limited. The capacity for parents to care deeply for each child and to find different but balanced ways of involvement with each of their children is the norm. That is, unless a child in the family dies. In that situation, the capacity for parents to undergo a normal mourning process in which they will grieve for the deceased child and emerge able to continue meaningful and balanced interaction with the surviving children is far from assured. In all too many cases, the parents maintain a continuing preoccupation with and heightened investment in the relationship to the lost one and the loss itself. The book of Genesis is rich in the description of family themes that would prove taxing for even the most resourceful of family therapists. Of all the stories of loss, the one of Jacob mourning for his beloved favorite son Joseph, presumed dead, is prototypical for one complication of parent loss of children. Although favored in life, it is Joseph's sudden “death” that cripples the father emotionally so that he is a mere shell of himself.

The death of a child is forever: The life course impact of child loss.

Much remains to be learned about the long-term effects of adult bereavement. A two-track model, considering both affective attachment to the deceased and extent of personality change, is used in the present study to examine aspects of the maternal reaction to sudden infant death. It is suggested that this two-track perspective offers greater specificity in studying the nature and duration of the effects of loss.

A TWO-TRACK MODEL OF BEREAVEMENT: Theory and Application in Research

The Two-Track Model of Bereavement Questionnaire (TTBQ) was designed to assess response to loss over time. Respondents were 354 persons who completed the 70-item self-report questionnaire constructed in accordance with the Two-Track Model of Bereavement. Track I focuses on the bereaved's biopsychosocial functioning and Track II concerns the bereaved's ongoing relationship to the range of memories, images, thoughts, and feeling states associated with the deceased. Factor analysis identified 5 factors that accounted for 51% of the variance explained. In accord with the theoretical and clinical model, 3 factors were primarily associated with the relationship to the deceased (Track II): Active Relational Grieving, Close and Positive Relationship, and Conflictual Relationship; and 2 factors with aspects of functioning (Track I): General Biopsychosocial Functioning and Traumatic Perception of the Loss. Construct and concurrent validity were examined and were found satisfactory. Differences by kinship, cause of death, gender, and time elapsed were examined across the 5 factors, the total TTBQ, and the ITG. The new measure is shown to have both construct and concurrent validity. Discussions of the results and implications for the measurement of response to loss conclude the article.

Simon Shimshon Rubin

Papers

The two-track model of bereavement: overview, retrospect, and prospect.

Parental response to child loss across the life cycle: Clinical and research perspectives.

The death of a child is forever: The life course impact of child loss.

A TWO-TRACK MODEL OF BEREAVEMENT: Theory and Application in Research

The Two-Track Model of Bereavement Questionnaire (TTBQ): Development and Validation of a Relational Measure