Being and Not Being Clinical Applications of the Death Instinct

Being and Not Being: Clinical Applications of the Death Instinct is the product of Dr. Weininger's decades of clinical work; he has written extensively on many aspects of child development and draws on the work of both Melanie Klein and Piaget. Richly illustrated with extensive case material, Being and Not Being is essential reading not only for those working with children of all ages, but also to all seeking a better understanding of the role of the death instinct throughout the life cycle. Unlike Freud, Dr. Weininger finds the superego in young children to be very active. He begins by discussing the early developmental origins of such emotions as anger and rage. Using an abundance of clinical material throughout, Dr. Weininger goes on to discuss the role of the internal objects, and the ways in which fantasized and real people, the internal objects and external parents, shape our relationships with people in our outer world. Dr. Weininger devotes the second section of the book to such long overlooked and ignored topics as young children's developmental concepts of death, and dying and disabled children and children who feel unwanted. He makes wonderful use of his clinical experience when he discusses a three-year-old's attempt to understand death, which he illustrates with extensive dialogue. Drawing on his broad hospital experience, he next discusses the role of parents and hospitals in giving dying children the emotional support they need and helping them to deflect the death instinct.