The Struggle Against Mourning

How does the analyst help the patient to be in touch with pain and mourning? And, what is the analyst's role in the mourning process? Should the analyst struggle to help patients relinquish defenses against pain and mourning, which they may experience as vital to their precarious psychic survival? Or should he or she accompany patients on their way to self-discovery, which may not result in the patients letting go of their defenses? The utilization of various defenses and the resulting unresolved mourning reflect the magnitude of the anxiety and pain found on the road to mourning. The ability to mourn and the capacity to bear some helplessness while still finding life meaningful are the objectives of the analytic work in this book. Book jacket.

Ilany Kogan serves as training analyst of the Israel Psychoanalytic Society and chief supervisor of the Psychotherapy Center for the Treatment of the Child and Adolescent in Bucharest