ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved. One can debate the merits of Iris Murdoch’s (1919-1999) words, but one thing is for sure: the loss of a loved one and the painful feelings that ensue comprise an excruciating yet inevitable event in the human experience. The term bereavement refers to a specific kind of loss, that through death. And although it may be defined quite succinctly, bereavement and its sequelae are far from simple. When presented with a bereaved patient, the clinician faces a number of questions: Is the patient experiencing normal grief or a pathological depression? Should these symptoms be treated or left to resolve on their own, in what many believe to be a restorative process? And if intervention is appropriate, which therapeutic domain maximizes the probability of a successful outcome? These issues, perplexing in any clinical encounter, pose an additional set of challenges
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when the patient is elderly, as the loss may be accompanied by a host of factors associated with aging, such as poor health, impaired cognitive abilities, declining income, decreasing independence, and the loss of social and occupational roles to name a few.
