ABSTRACT
Abnormal bereavement and distress disorders are prevalent and carry a significant rate of morbidity and mortality. Many family doctors are used to seeing patients who have experienced life events that lead to psychological disturbance. Bereavement can be defined as the period of mourning and grief that follows the death of a loved one. Mourning consists of the rituals and symbolic behaviour that follow such a death. Bereavement is an experience that virtually all individuals will experience at some point in their lives. Key tasks for health-care professionals include the possession of good knowledge about the normal spectrum of bereavement reactions, skills in promoting grieving, and an ability to identify when a grief reaction has become abnormal, prolonged or complex, or when it has developed into a mental illness such as depression.
