title: Mourning, mummification and living with the dead.
abstract: Six cases are reported in which the bereaved kept the decreased's body for periods ranging from one week to ten years. Some relevant anthropological and psychoanalytical observations are discussed. This phenomenon does not appear to have been reported in the literature of Western psychiatry.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis