Mourning and Depression: Their Similarities and Differences
- 1 June 1974
- journal article
- other
- Published by SAGE Publications in Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal
- Vol. 19 (3), 309-312
- https://doi.org/10.1177/070674377401900312
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that bereaved people respond to their loss with a set of psychological symptoms which are in many instances indistinguishable from depressive illness, but accepted by them and their environment as normal (1,3,5). On the other hand, patients with primary affective disorder experience their condition as a “change”, “not usual self” (7), which leads them to seek help, and in this way they define themselves as patients. A comparison of frequencies of psychiatric symptoms between depressed 34, and bereaved 34, subjects matched for sex and age shows that hospitalized depressed subjects have more symptoms — 15 — than bereaved subjects (7). However, there is enough overlap that, on the basis of symptoms, the two groups cannot be differentiated satisfactorily for research purposes. In psychiatry, most diagnostic criteria are arbitrary. If they are set narrow some patients with a mild form of illness are excluded, while if broad criteria are employed persons with other conditions or no illness at all are included. For research purposes if the symptoms of depression occur only after the death of a near relative the subjects should not be included in the group diagnosed as suffering from primary affective disorder.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Depression of Widowhood after Thirteen MonthsThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1973
- The Depression of WidowhoodThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1972
- Diagnostic Criteria for Use in Psychiatric ResearchArchives of General Psychiatry, 1972
- The natural history of affective disorders—I. Symptoms of 72 patients at the time of index hospital admissionJournal of Psychiatric Research, 1967
- CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS IN MANIC-DEPRESSIVE DISEASEJAMA, 1957