ABSTRACT
The expression in the English language "to come to grief" is synonymous with "to meet with disaster." One could infer, then, that bereavement is to be considered a disaster—a traumatic event. In fact, the studies of bereavement and trauma share a common origin in the seminal work of Sigmund Freud. It can be said that Freud's (1917) contribution "Mourning and Melancholia," providing, as it did, the first theoretical analysis of distinctions between normal and complicated forms of grieving, has shaped the development of the scientific study of bereavement up to the present day. Likewise, the evolution of his ideas about the relationship of traumatic events to the development of hysterical symptoms, most notably in his volume with Breuer Studies in Hysteria (Breuer & Freud, 1895/1937) and in his later work, influenced by World War I experiences with war victims, are still of relevance to trauma research (see Kleber & Brom, 1992).
