The Applications of Attachment Theory to Psychotherapy

Grief, separation and loss: The healing power of mourning

In this presentation, Kate White will give an overview of the centrality of separation and loss, the vital importance of mourning and Bowlby’s contribution to our understanding of what facilitates and what impedes this experience in therapeutic relationships. She will focus on how these impact on the body, on our sense of belonging and the ways in which our attachment patterns are embodied in the struggle to protect us against attachment, loss and disappointment, past and present and future. She will explore therapeutic approaches which enable both client and therapist to understand and engage in the painful process of mourning loss. The talk will be concluded with a discussion of how mourning needs to emerge into the context of the wider community with consideration of ways to reconnect. Mourning is both personal and political.