An Imaginary Leave-Taking Ritual in Mourning Therapy: A Brief Communication

Abstract

One form of mourning therapy is the therapeutic leave-taking ritual, the essence of which is that by parting with symbols connected with the deceased, patients take their leave of the deceased and can start a new life of their own. In the case described in the present paper, the patient performed such a ritual in her imagination while under hypnosis. Her extreme grief response is explained in terms of Janet's theory of emotions. It is emphasized that successfully performing the ritual necessarily involved a change in attitude towards the deceased, and it is argued that the specific characteristics of hypnosis–involuntariness and effortlessness–add an extra dimension to guided imagery approaches to unresolved mourning.