PATHOLOGICAL GRIEF - AN INTENSIVE CASE-STUDY

PATHOLOGICAL mourning is such an excessive, blocked, or distorted proc ess that psychiatric signs and symptoms develop. Explanation of how an d why these signs and symptoms form could deepen an understanding of b oth normal and pathological mourning. Because many variables are invol ved in such explanations, intensive case study is a desirable methodol ogy because it permits a detailed look at how various factors interact (Brewer and Hunter 1989; Luborsky and Mintz 1972; Luborsky and Spence 1971; Nessleroade and Ford 1985). While a patient may complain of sym ptoms as experiences that endure or occur episodically over days and w eeks, a clinician observes psychiatric signs in the here-and-now secon ds and minutes of an interview. Relating signs and symptoms to each ot her and to other variables in order to form a theoretical model of the ir formation requires exploration of data across long and short time f rames. It is important to understand how the here-and-now phenomena co mbine to form patterns across longer periods of the individual's life. Hence, we developed a combined macro- and microanalytic approach to i ntensive case studies.