ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book draws attention to a specific form of suffering in couples and families – a melancholic reaction to loss – which, can be mediated by a short-term psychoanalytic intervention. It argues that a predisposition to a melancholic reaction to loss is intrinsically linked to the extent to which a human being has developed a sense of himself as being psychologically separate from others. The book proposes a form of psychoanalytic intervention with couples and families that integrates object relations theory with link theory. It highlights the value of couple and family psychoanalysis, which has consolidated as a mode of intervention during the last decade. The book shows that as a consequence of psychological and other research, the impact and consequences of complicated and prolonged grief have become increasingly acknowledged as a significant mental health problem needing a specific diagnosis and treatment.
