I will pay for the following essay A psychodynamic approach: what can be gained from loss. The essay is to be 14 pages with three to five sources, with in-text citations and a reference page.Download

I will pay for the following essay A psychodynamic approach: what can be gained from loss. The essay is to be 14 pages with three to five sources, with in-text citations and a reference page.

In his groundbreaking essay “Mourning and Melancholia”, Freud (1917, pp. 245) asked a profound question: why accepting the loss and withdrawing the attachments is so extraordinarily painful? He did not answer the question. however, concluded that ego is freed after completing the painful process of mourning. He also noted that rejecting the command of reality and refusing to mourn may lead to the psychosis. Freud delineated the stages of mourning and its difference from melancholia. Although Freud's theory was primarily drive-oriented, his article influenced both object-relations theory and attachment theory. Indeed, early attachment is central to both theories of object relations and attachment. In his pioneering triology, Attachment and Loss, John Bowlby scrutinized the processes of attachment, separation and loss in children and adults. The aim of this brief is to explore what understanding of loss we can gain from psychodynamic theory. In “Mourning and Melancholia”, Freud (1917, pp. 243) noted that both mourning and melancholia develop as a response to the loss of a loved person, while he described melancholia as a pathological condition. However, whereas a person suffers from the loss of the object in the normal grieving process, a melancholic suffers from “a loss in regard to his ego” (pp. 243). Nevertheless, Freud's account is a bit problematic, since he also made a paradoxical claim that the melancholic does not feel any shame in front of other people in contrast to the mourning person who feels big shame. Although what he said can be empirically valid, theoretically it is problematic, since the feelings of shame are always related to the ego and it is not clear why the person who mourned for the lost object felt shame, while the melancholic who mourned for the loss of ego did not feel any shame. According to Freud, in normal mourning process, the person finally overcomes the loss of the object, withdraws his attachments and becomes ready to make new libidinal investments. but, the melancholic cannot since he is identified with the lost object. thus, cannot detach his libido from the lost object without risking the loss of his ego. Although Freud's article was groundbreaking, his instinct theory focused on the oedipal level and did not give an account of the separation/individuation process of the child. Later on, Melanie Klein and John Bowlby elaborated the concepts of mourning and loss. In his trilogy, John Bowlby, made extensive studies on separation, loss and early parent/child relationship and pioneered the attachment theory. Bowlby stressed the importance of earlier attachment behavior on later relationships in life. In fact, empirical researches of Fonagy showed that earlier insecure or disorganized attachment patterns may even lead to the personality disorders like borderline, schizoid and narcissistic personality disorders (Bowlby, 1979, pp. Xviii). According to Bowlby, the child develops the attachment response in line with an evolutionary heritage. Attachment system denotes a set of psychological dynamics that motivate a person to attain or maintain his/her “proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is concerned and better able to cope with the world” (Bowlby, 1982, pp. 668). The child feels safe if he or she knows the attachment figure is in a close proximity and responsive. Availability of the attachment figure creates a secure base for the child, and the child can explore the world freely in his/her presence. Meanwhile, unavailability of the attachment figure triggers several reactions. However, Bowlby's and others' clinical observations revealed that the reactions to separation are universal: protest (anger), depression (sadness and mourning), and eventual detachment (defensive avoidance). Attachment theory gave a great importance to the issue of separation since several observers noted the morbid consequences of the maternal loss. As Lieberman (1987, pp.