Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T00:25:10.881Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bereavement in Childhood and Depressive Psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

G. Hopkinson
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, 7
G. F. Reed
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, Manchester, 13

Extract

There have been many reports of the high incidence of early parental loss among groups of patients suffering from various psycho-pathological disorders. Bowlby (1951) cited numerous relevant studies in his influential monograph, and Gregory (1958) has critically reviewed a dozen others. More recently Brown (1961) reported a significantly higher incidence of parental loss in childhood among depressed patients than among the general population, and Beck et al. (1963) found that the incidence among highly depressed psychiatric patients was higher than among non-depressed patients. Both these writers aver that their findings provide evidence that parental loss in childhood is a significant factor in the development of a depressive illness in adult life.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1966 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Archibald, H. C., Bell, D., Miller, C., and Tudden-ham, R. D. (1962). “Bereavement in childhood and adult psychiatric disturbances.” Psychosom. Med., 24, 343–51.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Sethi, B., and Tuthill, R. W. (1963). “Childhood bereavement and adult depression.” Arch. gen. Psychiat., 9, 295302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1951). Maternal Care and Mental Health. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Brown, F. (1961). “Depression and childhood bereavement.” J. ment. Sci., 107, 754–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenichel, O. (1955). Psychoanalytical Theory of the Neuroses. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1917). “Mourning and melancholia.” In: Collected Papers, Vol. IV. London: Inst. of Psychoanalysis and Hogarth Press, 1924.Google Scholar
Gregory, I. (1958). “Studies of parental deprivation in psychiatric patients.” Amer. J. Psychiat., 115, 432–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E., and Roth, M. (1954). Clinical Psychiatry. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Schneider, K. (1955). “Zur Differentialdiagnose der Depressionszustände.” Forlschr. Neurol. Psychiat., 23, 16.Google Scholar
Schneider, K. (1958). Psychopathic Personalities. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Stenstedt, A. (1952). “A study in manic-depressive psychosis.” Acta psychiat. Scand. Suppl., 79.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.