On the Concept of Mourning in Childhood—Reactions of a 2½-Year-Old Girl to the Death of her Father

SUE WAS 28 MONTHS OLD WHEN HER FATHER'S DEATH CONFRONTED her with a loss that her personality development and cognitive skills scarcely allowed her to comprehend. Sue's efforts to deal with her loss will be the focus of this paper and will be discussed with regard to the long-debated issue of whether or not children are capable of mourning (R. Furman, 1964a), (1964b); (Wolfenstem, 1966); (Nagera, 1970); (E. Furman, 1974); (Bowlby, 1980). Sekaer (1986) suggested the term "childhood mourning" for the process by which children may work through a loss and proceed with normal development. The notion of childhood mourning emphasizes the differences from adult mourning, while at the same time stressing that decathexis, identification, reality testing, cognitive understanding of death, and other aspects of adult mourning may occur, but in a manner specific to children. Sue's reactions illustrate some of these similarities to and differences from adult mourning.