Significance of Maternal Bereavement Before Age of Eight in Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

IN A PREVIOUS study1 evidence was presented which indicated that death of the mother during childhood was more likely to be related to subsequent psychosis than death of the father. The incidence of maternal deaths was three times as great among psychotic persons as among normal controls (15.7 versus 5.3 per cent) ; the incidence of paternal deaths, on the other hand, was approximately equal among the psychotic and the normal persons (11.1 and 10.0 per cent). The ratio of maternal to paternal deaths is a useful measure, since mortality rates vary widely both from decade to decade and according to social and economic status in any given year. Thus, in the general population the normal expectancy is that two fathers will die for every mother that dies.The reason for the preponderance of paternal deaths is that mortality rates are higher for males than for females at all ages and that husbands are older than their wives. Among parents of psychotic persons it was found that three mothers died during the patient's childhood for every two fathers who died. The disproportionate number of mothers of psychotic persons who died during the patient's childhood (nearly three times the anticipated number) would seem to warrant more detailed investigation.While there have been numerous studies on the traumatic effect of parental death that are based on the method of individual case studies,2 and while statistical data have been presented on the frequency of bereavement in relation to such states as delinquency3 and ulcerative colitis,4 there have been relatively few attempts to study the precise inci¬ dence of parental deaths among psychotic patients. Rosenzweig and

Early Parental Deprivation and Later Behavioural Outcomes: Cluster Analysis Study of Normal and Abnormal Groups

“…In schizophrenia, a marked excess of parent loss has been reported by Wahl (1956), Lidz and Lidz (1949) , Hilgard and Newman (1963). Mother loss has been emphasised by Barry (1949) but this is not supported by other studies. Indeed some studies have found no excess of parental deprivation in schizophrenia.…”

Early Parental Deprivation and Later Behavioural Outcomes: Cluster Analysis Study of Normal and Abnormal Groups

“…In schizophrenia, a marked excess of parent loss has been reported by Wahl (1956), Lidz and Lidz (1949) , Hilgard and Newman (1963). Mother loss has been emphasised by Barry (1949) but this is not supported by other studies. Indeed some studies have found no excess of parental deprivation in schizophrenia.…”

Bereavement in Childhood*

“…Our sample is admittedly a biased one. However, several other investigators have made it abundantly clear that the loss of a parent in childhood, even when the child's response does not call for psychiatric intervention, can be a significant factor in adult pathology (Barry, 1949;Barry and Lindemann, 1960;Brown, 1961;Bowl by, 1961a;Hilgard, 1960). The death of a parent can never be written off as merely another developmental crisis.…”

An Analysis of Family Data on 1000 Patients Admitted to a Canadian Mental Hospital

“…Thus, Barry (1949) found an increased frequency of maternal deaths before th e age of eight in 1683 psychotic p atients (believed to be predom inantly schizophrenic). Norton (1952) recorded an increased frequency of paternal deaths before the age of ten years, in 500 psychiatric patients (predom inantly psychoneurotic).…”

Early Parental Deprivation and Later Behavioural Outcomes: Cluster Analysis Study of Normal and Abnormal Groups

“…In schizophrenia, a marked excess of parent loss has been reported by Wahl (1956), Lidz and Lidz (1949) , Hilgard and Newman (1963). Mother loss has been emphasised by Barry (1949) but this is not supported by other studies. Indeed some studies have found no excess of parental deprivation in schizophrenia.…”

Bereavement in Childhood*

“…Our sample is admittedly a biased one. However, several other investigators have made it abundantly clear that the loss of a parent in childhood, even when the child's response does not call for psychiatric intervention, can be a significant factor in adult pathology (Barry, 1949;Barry and Lindemann, 1960;Brown, 1961;Bowl by, 1961a;Hilgard, 1960). The death of a parent can never be written off as merely another developmental crisis.…”

An Analysis of Family Data on 1000 Patients Admitted to a Canadian Mental Hospital

“…Thus, Barry (1949) found an increased frequency of maternal deaths before th e age of eight in 1683 psychotic p atients (believed to be predom inantly schizophrenic). Norton (1952) recorded an increased frequency of paternal deaths before the age of ten years, in 500 psychiatric patients (predom inantly psychoneurotic).…”

Early Parental Deprivation and Later Behavioural Outcomes: Cluster Analysis Study of Normal and Abnormal Groups

“…In schizophrenia, a marked excess of parent loss has been reported by Wahl (1956), Lidz and Lidz (1949) , Hilgard and Newman (1963). Mother loss has been emphasised by Barry (1949) but this is not supported by other studies. Indeed some studies have found no excess of parental deprivation in schizophrenia.…”

Bereavement in Childhood*

“…Our sample is admittedly a biased one. However, several other investigators have made it abundantly clear that the loss of a parent in childhood, even when the child's response does not call for psychiatric intervention, can be a significant factor in adult pathology (Barry, 1949;Barry and Lindemann, 1960;Brown, 1961;Bowl by, 1961a;Hilgard, 1960). The death of a parent can never be written off as merely another developmental crisis.…”

An Analysis of Family Data on 1000 Patients Admitted to a Canadian Mental Hospital

“…Thus, Barry (1949) found an increased frequency of maternal deaths before th e age of eight in 1683 psychotic p atients (believed to be predom inantly schizophrenic). Norton (1952) recorded an increased frequency of paternal deaths before the age of ten years, in 500 psychiatric patients (predom inantly psychoneurotic).…”