ABSTRACT
As this volume on deaths and endings draws to a close, let us take a moment to re¯ect upon the themes that reverberate in these pages. Many of the authors delved deep within themselves, sharing moving encounters with loss that have been the basis for personal transformation, albeit painfully won. Through work with patients both young and old, victims of public and private traumas, and through the analysis of literature, public memorials, and religious rituals the authors have presented a richly textured, contemporary psychoanalytic understanding of the signi®cance and growth potential of working through the many losses of life. These diverse encounters with deaths and endings remind us of the essential nature of our bonds with others.
