A Study of Normal Bereavement

By systematically interviewing relatives of a series of hospital patients who died, the authors have delineated the symptoms of normal bereavement. Only three symptoms—depressed mood, sleep disturbance, and crying—occurred in more than one-half of the subjects. At follow-up two to four months later 81 percent were improved and only four percent were worse. Those improved dated their improvement to six to ten weeks after the death. Ninety-eight percent of these relatives did not seek psychiatric assistance during the bereavement period.