Essay: Klein’s Contribution to Mourning

Sample Essay

Likewise, Klein’s contribution to this course of study can also not be disregarded. She did extensive studies about depressive illness and suggested that in an ideal mourning situation, the initial stages are characterized be paranoid and suspicious anxieties. Their reactivation makes the mourner feel as though it is a punishment imposed on him or her. Because of immense pain, the mourner may lose some considerable level of emotional stability and goes into a state that Klein refers to as depressive position. During this stage the person is not able to make personal decision and experiences extreme emotions that are either good or bad. To this effect, Klein argues that effective therapy usually targets providing a stable emotional condition that enables the mourner to make informed decisions and counter the pain experienced.

In his study, Winnicot takes a different approach by analyzing the implication of mourning to children. His findings were backed up by research carried out on thirty children whose pets died. The credibility of this study has been challenged by emergent researches that were carried out after Winnicots. The studies argued that the affection to the pets can not be compared by the affection that the children had on their parents. Generally, Winnicot contends that children do experience immense painful emotions when faced with any type of loss. He argues that this knowledge is essential as it shows the severity of the condition and enables the therapists to adopt most suitable and effective ways to address the same. Further, Winnicot asserts that loss leads to aggression of the mourner as a defense mechanism (Winnicot, 1974).

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