This book illuminates the structure and focus of thinking about love and loss, and sheds light on a wide range of psychological issues. It will be essential for bereavement professionals as well as students of psychology, psychiatry, and sociology.

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 2. 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 3. 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.