ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates Dr Davanloo's approach to working with and removing pathological through some vignettes. Sigmund Freud first explored this concept in "Mourning and Melancholia". Mourning was seen as a normal phenomenon whereas melancholia was viewed as a medical condition that required active intervention and treatment. Mourning occurred after an actual and apparent loss and was experienced as a conscious emotion. Melancholia did not occur after an actual death and the loss was seen as an unconscious one. The psychoanalytic investigation of the unconscious occurs in many dimensions. Erich Lindemann went on to further refine Freud's conceptualization. He established some common symptoms of grief, which included somatic distress, preoccupation with images of the deceased, guilt, hostility, and functional impairment. Lindemann believed that grief could have a normal or abnormal trajectory and that a mental health professional could help a patient suffering with an abnormal trajectory get back on a normal one.
