Health After Bereavement

Structured interviews were carried out with 49 widows and 19 widowers under the age of 45 who had been bereaved 14 months previously. A number of indices of health and emotional disturbance were shown to distinguish these bereaved respondents from a matched control group. The 13-month-bereaved group was characterized by recent disturbance of sleep, appetite and weight, by complaints of depression, restlessness, indecisiveness and sense of strain and by an increased consumption of alcohol, tobacco and tranquilizers. They were more likely than the control group to have been admitted to a hospital during the preceding year. Widowers reported an increase in acute physical symptoms although neither sex had more chronic physical symptoms than the controls. Two to four years later there was little difference in health between bereaved and control groups but there was evidence of persisting “disengagement.”