Unresolved Grief and Continuing Bonds - an Attachment Perspective
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UNRESOLVED GRIEF AND CONTINUING BONDS:
AN ATTACHMENT PERSPECTIVE
Much of the contemporary bereavement literature on the continuing bond to the
deceased (CB) has emphasized its adaptiveness and given limited attention to
when it may be maladaptive. The attachment literature on disorganized-
unresolved attachment classification in relation to loss, or ''unresolved loss,'' is
informative in identifying CB expressions that are indicative of failure to
integrate the death of a loved one. In this article, an important linkage is identified
between a prominent indicator of unresolved loss that involves a lapse in the
monitoring of reasoning implying disbelief that the person is dead and the clinical
writings of J. Bowlby (1980) and V. D. Volkan (1981) on maladaptive variants
of CB expression. The aim is to highlight the value of the attachment literature on
unresolved loss in clarifying the conditions under which CB is likely to be
maladaptive.
There is increasing agreement among bereavement theorists and
practitioners that an ongoing attachment to the deceased can be
an integral part of successful adaptation to bereavement (Klass,
Silverman, & Nickman, 1996). This position, commonly known
as the ''continuing bonds'' perspective, is counter to that presented
by Freud (1917=1957) in his classic work ''Mourning and Melancholia,''
in which he proposed that successful adaptation to loss
required the bereaved to detach his or her psychic investment in
the deceased, or ''relinquish'' his or her attachment to the
deceased, in order to complete the mourning process.
Much of the bereavement literature on the continuing bond to
the deceased (CB) has emphasized its adaptiveness while paying
minimal attention to conditions under which it may be maladaptive
(Fraley & Shaver, 1999). Despite its value in identifying CB
as a normative aspect of bereavement adjustment, and its positive
Address correspondence to Nigel P. Field, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 935
East Meadow Dr., Palo Alto, CA 95006. E-mail: nfield@pgsp.edu
739
Death Studies, 30: 739-756, 2006
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0748-1187 print/1091-7683 online
DOI: 10.1080/07481180600850518
Downloaded By: [USC University of Southern California] At: 22:52 13 November 2009
impact in drawing attention to the importance of interventions that
serve to promote such an inner bond (e.g., Neimeyer, 2001), the
CB literature also may have had some unfortunate consequences
in ignoring possible maladaptive variants of CB expression. In fact,
there is a tendency among those who advocate the adaptiveness of
CB to summarily dismiss classic work in the bereavement literature
that identify maladaptive CB expressions, such as the writings of
Volkan (1981) and Bowlby (1980), on grounds that these theorists
have embraced the Freudian (1917=1957) relinquishment perspective
(Silverman & Klass, 1996). In this article, I will attempt to show
how there is noteworthy overlap between some of the clinical
insights of these classic writings with empirical findings in contemporary
adult attachment literature on unresolved=disorganized
states of mind with respect to loss, hereafter referred to as ''unresolved
loss,'' in terms of their implications for the maladaptive
use of CB.
In a previous paper, my colleagues and I introduced an
attachment theory-based framework for distinguishing adaptive
versus maladaptive CB expressions (Field, Gao, & Paderna,
2005). Here, we attempted to point out how this perspective is
informative in identifying the kinds of changes that occur in the
representation of the relationship with the deceased in the normative
course of bereavement that allows for a continuing tie to the
deceased while satisfying what is required in accommodating to
the loss. This work also provided a means for distinguishing successful
versus maladaptive ways of maintaining CB. The present
article extends this previous work in introducing the reader to
the attachment literature on unresolved loss and its relevance in
identifying maladaptive CB.
Attachment Theory Perspective on Successful
Mourning
According to Bowlby, healthy mourning occurs when an individual
accepts ''both that a change has occurred in his external world
and that he is required to make corresponding changes in his internal,
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