This small volume comprises primarily papers presented in 2001 at the 32^nd Annual Margaret S. Mahler Symposium on Child Development in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Expectably, Mahler's conceptual contributions are liberally referenced throughout the volume—separation individuation, libidinal object constancy, the unavoidable losses of developmental changes, and mourning of the loss of one-ness. In keeping with the design of the symposium, the book is organized around four primary chapters (presentations), each followed by a discussion chapter. The unifying theme is mourning of the loss of a primary object, either early in life or in adulthood.

Threads winding through all these essays include fundamental questions: What intrapsychic changes are integral to mourning? What is a child's capacity to mourn? What are the intrapsychic and interpersonal requisites for mourning in the child or the adult? What internal or interpersonal situations block mourning? How