Grief is central to human experience.  We are all confronted with losses, disappointments, separations, disruptions, large and small, every day, and we are able to move forward in our lives only if we are able to grieve.  Our patients come to us with a tremendous burden of undigested sadness, and much of psychotherapy is our attempt to help them develop some capacity to mourn.  Since its beginnings in Freud and Klein, object relations has had as one of its central concerns grief work, and how it is that a capacity to grieve can be developed so that emotional growth can move forward.  In this short class we will look at some of the basic concepts of object relations theory through this lens of loss and grief.  We will read articles from Melanie Klein and Wilfred Bion, the two most important architects of contemporary object relations thinking, and explore applications to our clinical work, especially with dreams.  This course will be accessible to those new to object relations, as well as hopefully of interest to those with more experience.  This course is cosponsored by the Alliance and COR.

Four Tuesdays: January 16, 23, 30, February 6; 7:30—9 pm

Fee: $80