Maternal Attachment and Child Death: On Adjustment, Relationship, and Resolution

Abstract

When an infant dies at the height of the mother-child attachment period, the experience is traumatic and shattering for the mother. Examining successful resolution of this loss requires a distinction between adjustment to the external reality of loss and the nature of the ongoing internal relationship to the representation of the deceased. Resolution may best describe and muted intrapsychic relationship characterized by a flexible and psychologically comfortable stance vis a vis the dynamic memories and representation of the deceased child.