PATHOLOGICAL GRIEF - 2 VICTORIAN CASE-STUDIES

Despite 75 years of investigation, the concept of pathological grief r emains tenuous and controversial. The author turns to the stories of t wo nineteenth century women, one real and the other fictitious, to exa mine the syndrome of grief gone awry. He concludes that pathological g rief may be best viewed on a continuum of psychopathology, the express ion of which depends upon the interaction between the personality of t he patient, the nature of the lost relationship, and the circumstances of its loss.