Management of established pathological grief reaction after stillbirth.

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.