Disciplinary Wounds: Has Grief Become the Identified Patient for a Field Gone Awry?

Abstract

In the last few decades, grief and loss research in the psychological domain has focused almost exclusively on its dysfunctional nature. I examine what is underneath these questions about pathology and suggest that our discipline is suffering from an attachment wound where we have dissociated from our historical roots when it comes to the study of grief and loss. I argue that we need to ask new questions about grief and loss and present two examples of my collaborative work to illustrate innovative ways of thinking about and researching grief.

KEYWORDS:

• grief
• grief research
• history of psychology
• loss
• psychoanalysis

Acknowledgments

I would like to warmly thank and acknowledge my collaborators on the Grief and Loss Project, Drs. Michelle Fine, Karen Fergus, Judith Kuppersmith, and Robin Stern, as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for funding this innovative project. I also thank my dear friend and colleague, Meghan O'Rourke, for the creative, exciting, and innovative writing we continue to do together, and for a treasured friendship made of kindred spirits.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leeat Granek

Leeat Granek is currently an assistant professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences in the Department of Public Health. Her research interests are in grief and loss and psycho-oncology.