Long-term reactions following a stillbirth with a congenital abnormality: a preliminary report.

Just over half of the sixty women who were interviewed ten and twenty years after they were delivered of a stillborn malformed baby, seem to have resolved their grief completely and have accepted the stillbirth. The remainder have become clinically depressed or have shown physical symptoms typical of anxiety states. Factors contributing to their unresolved mourning were: 1) failure on the doctor's part to explain, comprehensively, the reason for the stillbirth; 2) lack of emotional support during and after the stillbirth.