Psychomotor retardation is rare in bereaved persons, but restlessness and anxiety are common. In a study by Clayton, 6 many persons reported crying, low mood, sleep problems, loss of appetite, restlessness, fatigue, poor memory, and loss of interest at 1 month. Many longitudinal follow-up studies of the recently bereaved have focused on the widowed. In most bereaved persons, these 4 domains of disrupted functioning are common in the first few months of bereavement and generally decline during the first year. In the group of cognitive changes, they include difficulty in accepting the loss, a sense of loss of part of oneself, uncertainty about the future, and a search for meaning. In a review of grief course patterns, Bonanno and Kaltman 5 found that in the first year of bereavement, most people demonstrate 4 types of disrupted functioning: cognitive disorganization, dysphoria, health deficits, and disruptions in both social and occupational functioning. In reality, little empirical evidence exists to support the stage theory of grief, and it is a mistake to think that all individuals move through such stages in an orderly way. The third, recovery, often begins within 4 months after the loss of a loved one the bereaved accepts the death and returns to some earlier level of functioning.The second, depression, lasts a few weeks to a year irritability and restlessness are prominent, but all depressive symptoms commonly occur.The first, numbness, typically lasts a few hours to a few days essential things get done, but most are poorly remembered anxiety and depressive symptoms may begin.There is some literature on the typical stages of grief. It is a distressing condition in which common symptoms include disbelief about the death, anger and bitterness, pangs of painful emotions with intense yearning for the deceased, preoccupation with thoughts of the deceased, and avoidance of reminders of the loss. Complicated grief, previously referred to as traumatic grief, is typically not diagnosed until at least 6 months have passed after the loss. Mourning is the social expression of bereavement or grief, often formalized by custom or religion. Grief is the psychological and emotional reaction to a significant loss, not limited to death. 3 To better understand the usual course of coping with such losses, it helps to define some basic terms and become familiar with the experiences that individuals move through following a loss.īereavement is the reaction to a loss by death. 1,2 By age 65, more than half of American women and 10% of American men have been widowed at least once. Approximately 2.5 million people die in the United States every year, and each leaves behind about 5 bereaved people. In spite of this, most people cope with the loss with minimal morbidity.
The loss of a loved one is one of the most traumatic events in a person’s life.