Selected Papers by Susan Kavaler-Adler: Volume I: Developmental Mourning, Erotic Transference, and Object Relations Psychoanalysis

"In these thoughtfully curated volumes we have access to the work of one of the most influential and thought-provoking psychoanalytic writers today. In the creative hands of Dr. Kavaler-Adler, British and American Object Relations theories are fashioned into a vital, dynamic theory of Developmental Mourning, a developmental process that is central not only to healing trauma, but to the growth of separation-individuation processes, "selfevolution," creativity, eroticism, and reparation: the core elements of what it is to be human and alive. Dr. Kavaler-Adler's writing is so thoroughly infused with her enthusiasm and passion that we encounter the theory with visceral clarity and truly feel the pain and joy of her clinical work. Dr. Kavaler-Adler illustrates the power of the use of countertransference with poignant and healing effect, never more vividly than in her chapters on Group Therapy. In these chapters we witness the working through of primitive affects and developmental progressions embedded in the powerful dynamics of the group with Dr. Kavaler-Adler's illuminating understanding through the lens of Developmental Mourning. We are indebted to International Psychoanalytic Books for bringing the works of one of the master clinicians of our time together in these collected volumes."

-ROBERT GROSSMARK, PHD, ABPP, author of The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Companioning and The One and the Many: Relational Approaches to Group Psychotherapy

"Susan Kavaler-Adler's Volume I of the Selected Papers highlights her original contributions to psychoanalytic theory and technique. Drawing upon the theories of Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Balint and many others, she illustrates and illuminates her concept of developmental mourning. An independent, philosophical psychoanalyst, Kavaler-Adler bridges past and present in theory and practice. Demonstrating the beneficial clinical outcome of mourning for loss in self and object relationships, she also emphasizes the reparative and growth promoting aspects of mourning the detrimental consequences of traumatic experience. She describes the appreciation of the new when one can separate from fixation to traumatic loss. Reading and reflecting upon Dr. Kavaler-Adler's insightful papers is a fascinating, rewarding psychoanalytic journey."

-HAROLD P. BLUM, MD, Training and Supervising Analyst, New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; affiliated with NYU Medical School and the Psychoanalytic Society of Rio de Janeiro