Dissociative functions in the mourning process are seen to occur in conjunction with integrative trends. The initial shock reaction in mourning is considered a paradigm of normal dissociation in the mourning process. Some research and clinical implications are addressed. Dissociation is understood to be related to the traumatic significance of death in human consciousness. Four psychological categories of dissociative functioning in the processing of death are discerned. Implications of normal dissociative processes in the mourning process for the theory of the unity of the self are raised.
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