Book contents
- Time and Body
- Endorsements for Time and Body
- Time and Body
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Additional material
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction – Time and Body
- 2 Time, the Body, and the Other in Phenomenology and Psychopathology
- Part I Body and Time: General Aspects
- Part II Grief and Anxiety
- 7 Bereavement and the Meaning of Profound Feelings of Emptiness
- 7.1 Commentary on “Bereavement and the Meaning of Profound Feelings of Emptiness: An Existential-Phenomenological Analysis”
- 8 Body-as-Object in Social Situations
- 8.1 Commentary on “Body-as-Object in Social Situations: Toward a Phenomenology of Social Anxiety”
- Part III Borderline Personality and Eating Disorders
- Part IV Depression, Schizophrenia, and Dementia
- Index
- References
7 - Bereavement and the Meaning of Profound Feelings of Emptiness
An Existential-phenomenological Analysis
from Part II - Grief and Anxiety
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2020
By
Book contents
- Time and Body
- Endorsements for Time and Body
- Time and Body
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Additional material
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction – Time and Body
- 2 Time, the Body, and the Other in Phenomenology and Psychopathology
- Part I Body and Time: General Aspects
- Part II Grief and Anxiety
- 7 Bereavement and the Meaning of Profound Feelings of Emptiness
- 7.1 Commentary on “Bereavement and the Meaning of Profound Feelings of Emptiness: An Existential-Phenomenological Analysis”
- 8 Body-as-Object in Social Situations
- 8.1 Commentary on “Body-as-Object in Social Situations: Toward a Phenomenology of Social Anxiety”
- Part III Borderline Personality and Eating Disorders
- Part IV Depression, Schizophrenia, and Dementia
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter, I investigate the meaning of profound feelings of emptiness following the bereavement of an intimate other. Contrary to a standard Freudian account, stating that such feelings of emptiness are exclusively emanating from an experience of a vacancy or absence in the world, I argue that they equally express a particular kind of emptiness of the embodied self. Specifically, I propose that feelings of emptiness, following the loss of an intimate other, are the affective expression of a profound constriction in the existential texture of my self-familiarity as rooted in a being-with. After unpacking this idea, I illustrate it in detail through five modalities and point to the existential consequence that bereavement not only implies a need to relearn the world, but a need to the task of relearning myself.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Time and BodyPhenomenological and Psychopathological Approaches, pp. 125 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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