Loss to Legacy: The Work of Mourning Early Parental Death

Abstract

This article proposes that an important aspect in treating adults with early parental loss is helping them retrieve a positive inner sense of the deceased parent. Not having an inner representation of the parent is experienced as a double loss: the actual loss due to death, and additionally, the loss due to a lack of memory and inner connection to the deceased. Access to memories and inner representations are often lost in the process of defending against layers of pain experienced at the death of the parent. This article first discusses salient issues to be dealt with when treating such adults and then speaks to the value of therapeutic work which encourages retrieving memories and positive identifications with the deceased parent.

KEYWORDS:

• early parental loss
• retrieving memories
• positive identifications
• inner representations