Midlife Women and Death of Mother – A Study of Psychohistorical and Spiritual Transformation

What do middle-aged daughters lose and mourn when their mothers die? How does the death of mother affect midlife women’s psychological and spiritual development? Are there recognizable phases in the process of mourning and transformation? Informed by psychoanalytic, adult developmental, family systems, and theological perspectives, Robbins analyzes data gathered from indepth interviews with midlife women and provides significant insights into these questions. One major finding of this original study is that women mourn their mothers’ lives more than their actual deaths. This startling finding, Robbins suggests, has profound implications for personal, sociopolitical, and spiritual life in Western society today.