Overview

This book defines the centrality of love and loss in human life and in human meaning. Bowlby's Attachment theory forms the basis for understanding our selves and our relationships. The author proposes that love is the subjective experience of attachment and that dyadic relationships are the source of ultimate meaning. He supports his theses with a tour de force integration of ideas from attachment theory, psychoanalysis, neuroscience and existential philosophy. He argues that the quality of attachment between mother and infant lays the foundation for the formation of individual identity and ultimately shapes our capacity to engage in relationships with others. The author describes loss as the reciprocal of attachment and considers the enormous influence of loss on our moods, sense of identity, and our desire to live or die. The final segments of the book describe the implications of this analysis and links it to the meaning and purpose of human life. All of us seek to understand the meaning of life, and especially the meaning of our own lives.

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9780367106218

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Reviews

This stimulating book weaves together coherently many different strands to illuminate one of the most fundamental of human themes in an original way. Material from clinical psychiatry and psychoanalysis, literature, art, music, biology and neuroscience is presented clearly, without the obscure language such subjects may provoke, and discussed in the context of a set of eleven core propositions. The book will be accessible and interesting to a wide readership both within and outside the above disciplines, bringing together otherwise scattered information as well as provocative ideas. In addition, case vignettes add meaning on a more personal level. --Dr David Abrahamson MBE, FRCPsych, FRCPI, Fellow Gathering inspiration and insights from artists, philosophers, neuroscientists, and psychoanalysts, Alan Eppel has enriched and deepened our understanding of love and loss of love in a most engaging way. Dr. Eppel has crafted an intellectual delight. --Orli Peter, Ph.D, Clinical Neuropsychologist Diplomate, Founder and Director Readers passionate about social and psychological aspects of health and disease, working with marginalized or disadvantaged communities or engaged in mental health practice will enjoy this book. It would also be invaluable to psychiatry residents and other professional trainees interested in mental health and illness and community health. That said, it is also an excellent and accessible introduction to attachment theory for readers curious about their own attachments to others. -- (07/30/2010)

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Alan B Eppel

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