Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:987-992
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Management of established pathological grief reaction after stillbirth
JT Condon
This paper focuses on the etiology, recognition, and treatment of
established pathological grief reactions in parents bereaved by stillbirth.
Bereavement in this situation differs in a number of aspects from
conventional bereavement, and these dictate that the style of grief therapy
be modified. Four such aspects are discussed: the unique psychological
properties of the lost object, the complexity of the emotional attachment
that expectant parents develop toward their unborn child, the unusual
psychobiological climate in which the loss occurs, and the sociocultural
definition of the meaning and significance of the loss.
