 |
|
Is Grief a Disease? Sometimes.
Richard M. Glass, MD
JAMA. 2005;293:2658-2660.
|
|
| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. |
|
|
|
In a classic 1961 article,1 Engel posed the question "Is grief a disease?" After a consideration of the typical characteristics of grief—the initial shock and disbelief in response to an important loss followed by painful experiences of loss and sadness, often with a sense of emptiness, hopelessness, and loss of interest in usual activities, followed by the "work of mourning," an often prolonged phase of restitution and recovery—Engel concluded that "the experience of uncomplicated grief also represents a manifest and gross departure from the dynamic state considered representative of health and well being."1(p20) Engel thus viewed grief as an appropriate topic for clinical research.
In a much earlier (1917) classic article2 on "Mourning and Melancholia," Freud reached a different conclusion. He viewed grief as a normal, although very painful, life experience characterized by the necessary but time-limited psychological process of mourning. Such normal grief after a . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Author Affiliation: Dr Glass is Deputy Editor, JAMA, and is with the Department of Psychiatry, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
RELATED ARTICLE
Treatment of Complicated Grief: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Katherine Shear, Ellen Frank, Patricia R. Houck, and Charles F. Reynolds, III
JAMA. 2005;293(21):2601-2608.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Clinical and Ethical Issues in Palliative Care
Block
Focus 2007;5:393-397.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
A Psychometric Analysis of Project Liberty's Adult Enhanced Services Referral Tool
Norris et al.
Psychiatr. Serv. 2006;57:1328-1334.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
|
