Discussion of Robin Deutsch's “A Voice Lost, A Voice Found: After the Death of the Analyst”

Abstract

In this discussion, the biology of loss and separation, the enmeshment and intersubjective interdependence of dyads are explored as aspects of the particular dimensions of mourning in the analysand upon the death of her analyst. Considerations from linguistics, from attachment research, and from the relational theory of intersubjectivity are used to explore the particular demands of mourning and reparation in analytic dyads. The work of dreams in recovery is discussed.

Notes

Adrienne Harris, Ph.D., is Faculty and Supervisor, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California; Associate Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Studies in Gender and Sexuality; and Editorial Board, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, American Imago.