Grief and alcohol.
A survey of clinical case histories revealed the presence of grief in 12 out of 50 consecutive admissions in an alcohol treatment center. Eight additional cases were added to this series. The bereavements had occurred in 14 established alcoholics, and initiated alcoholism in six patients, five of whom described close relatives with excess alcohol intake. This study demonstrated the different ways in which grief effected patterns of alcohol consumption. The chronic intoxicated state could also influence the expression of grief and the process of mourning. Resolution of mourning could occur concurrent with increased intake. Pseudo-grief in the heightened emotional state of the withdrawal phase could be transient. Variants of pathological grief were present in half (N = 10) of whom five came from the initial survey group. Its form of expression could be related to premorbid personality. Completion of the withdrawal phase was found essential for meaningful diagnostic assessment. The resolution of pathological grief was not inevitably associated with containment of alcohol intake after treatment. The responses to marital loss by separation or divorce were examined in the survey group. This social disruption was subsequent to problem drinking. The divorced patients accepted this social change better than the separated group. The apparent yet infrequent role of bereavement as an etiological or precipitant factor in the production of an alcohol-dependence syndrome is unclear. Pathological grief in the alcoholic is a problem of unknown magnitude, and first admission with this complication can occur several years after the event. The literature does not clearly define the relationships between alcoholism, admission for treatment, and pathological grief, but suggests loss to be a potent factor in completed suicide. Variations in grief responses in the alcoholic apparently have not been hitherto studied.
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D003643:Death; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology