Psychoanalytic explanation of pathological grief - Scientific observation of a single case

M. Edelson's (1986) guidelines for scientific, qualitative, single-subject research on psychoanalytic hypotheses are applied to a 41-year-old spousall y bereaved woman in short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. These guideline s call for a clear statement of the formulation to be tested, separation of facts from interpretations, and confrontation of at least one plausible al ternative explanation. Using therapy transcripts, the authors evaluate a,gr ief-as-self-punishment proposition, which holds that guilt was causal in pr olonging the subject's grief. Following M. Edelson, possible observations a re specified that would disconfirm the proposition and account for conflict ing observations that did occur. An alternative explanation is offered: The subject's grief was simply the result of multiple losses. The superiority of the explanation attributing a causal role to guilt is argued. The author s discuss the generalizability of their findings and the implications for f uture studies of psychodynamic hypotheses.