Love and Loss

Colin Murray Parkes is a psychiatrist, researcher and author. He has contributed to and edited numerous books and articles on the nature of human attachments and loss. His Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life first published in 1972 and now in its third edition, remains a classic. He has been a Consultant psychiatrist at St Christopher's Hospice since 1966, and is Life President of Cruse Bereavement Care. In 1996 he was awarded an OBE for services to bereaved people.

• Introduction. Part I: Attachment and Loss. Review I: Attachment and Love. Review II: Loss and Change. The Research Project. Part II: Patterns of Attachment and Patterns of Grief. Secure and Insecure Attachments. Anxious/Ambivalent Attachments. Avoidant Attachments. Disorganised Attachments. Conclusions from Part II. Part III: Other Influences on Attachment and Loss. Separation. Trauma and Bereavement. Gender. Loss of a Parent in Adult Life. Loss of a Child. Loss of a Spouse or Partner. Social Isolation and Support. Other Influences. Conclusions from Part III. Part IV: Disorders of Attachment, Other Psychiatric Problems and their Prevention and Treatment. Attachments in Non-bereaved Psychiatric Patients. Disorders of Attachment. Therapies and Outcome. Final Conclusions.

"...clear, packed with information, and very humane." - ACP North London Magazine"This is a beautifully written book, combining thoughtful analysis of research data with clinical case examples that bring to life and deepen the ideas Parkes is exploring... It goes without saying this is an essential volume for those practitioners working with the bereaved; it will also be of particular relevance to those interested in Attachment Theory, and there are many riches here for the general reader." - Ken Blythin, Counselling Psychotherapy and Research, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2010