Some Psychiatric Non-Sequelae of Childhood Bereavement

Munro, Alistair; Griffiths, A.

doi:10.1192/bjp.115.520.305

Cited by 82 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The literature on BPD 27,28 and schizophrenia 16,29,30 is insufficient for comparison. (2) Patients with MD manifest a significantly increased rate of EPL due to permanent separation but not due to death, as observed by a number of methodologically rigorous case control [16][17][18]23 and epidemiological [20][21][22] studies. (3) As previously reported, 23,24 loss of mother may be more significant than loss of father although in our analysis this observation was at a trend level only.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More rigorous comparisons with medical controls have tended not to find a significant difference, [16][17][18] with exceptions. 19 Lack of association of death of a parent in childhood with adult depression is particularly true of studies which employed an epidemiological approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wyatt and Nicholl 29 reported an increased incidence of early parental death in patients with schizophrenia but earlier studies did not find such an association. 16,30 In their twin study, Kendler et al 20 found that separation from a parent before the age of 17 significantly increased the risk for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and phobia as well as depression. Death of a parent was significantly associated with phobia and panic disorder.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environment and vulnerability to major psychiatric illness: a case control study of early parental loss in major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Agid¹,

et al. 1999

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The current focus on identifying genes which predispose to psychiatric illness sharpens the need to identify environmental factors which interact with genetic predisposition and thus contribute to the multifactorial causation of these disorders. One such factor may be early parental loss (EPL). The putative relationship between early environmental stressors such as parental loss and psychopathology in adult life has intrigued psychiatrists for most of this century. We report a case control study in which rates of EPL, due to parental death or permanent separation before the age of 17 years were evaluated in patients with major depression (MD), bipolar disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), compared to individually matched, healthy control subjects (MD-Control, 79 pairs; BPD-Control, 79 pairs; SCZ-Control, 76 pairs). Loss of parent during childhood significantly increased the likelihood of developing MD during adult life (OR = 3.8, P = 0.001). The effect of loss due to permanent separation (P = 0.008) was more striking than loss due to death, as was loss before the age of 9 years (OR = 11.0, P = 0.003) compared to later childhood and adolescence. The overall rate of EPL was also increased in BPD (OR = 2.6, P = 0.048) but there were no significant findings in any of the subcategories of loss. A significantly increased rate of EPL was observed in schizophrenia patients (OR = 3.8, P = 0.01), particularly before the age of 9 years (OR = 4.3, P = 0.01). Comparison of psychosocial, medical and clinical characteristics of subjects with and without a history of EPL, within the larger patient groups from which the matched samples were drawn (MD, n = 136; BPD, n = 107; SCZ, n = 160), yielded few significant findings. Among the controls (n = 170), however, subjects who had experienced EPL, reported lower incomes, had been divorced more frequently, were more likely to be living alone, were more likely to smoke or have smoked cigarettes and reported more physical illness (P = 0.03-0.001). Long term neurobiological consequences of early environmental stressors such as maternal deprivation have been extensively studied in many animal species. Recently, enduring changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function, including corticotrophin releasing factor gene expression, have received particular attention. Analogous processes may be implicated in the effect of EPL on human vulnerability to psychopathology, via alterations in responsiveness to stress. Genetic predisposition may influence the degree of susceptibility of the individual to the effects of early environmental stress and may also determine the psychopathological entity to which the individual is rendered vulnerable as a consequence of the stress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environment and vulnerability to major psychiatric illness: a case control study of early parental loss in major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Agid¹,

et al. 1999

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“…Crook and Eliot (1980) and Tennant, Bebbington, and Hurry (1980) contend that significant findings in the literature have been the result of methodologically flawed studies. It appears that the most consistent finding among these studies is a relationship between early mother death and later depression -in particular, severe forms of depression (Birtchnell, 1970a(Birtchnell, , 1972(Birtchnell, , 1978Dennehy, 1966;Gay & Tonge, 1967;Munro & Griffiths, 1969;Wilson, Alltop, & Buffaloe, 1967). Some findings with regard to the impact of the death of either parent are reported (Beck, Sethi, & Tuthill, 1968;Birtchnell, 1972;Brown, 1961;Dennehy, 1966;Forrest, Fraser, & Priest, 1965), but there are few reports that father death during early childhood is associated with adult depression (Birtchnell, 1978;Dennehy, 1966).…”

Section: Depressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The long-term effects of early parent death: A review

Finkelstein

1988

J. Clin. Psychol.

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A review of the literature indicates some evidence for an association between early death of the mother and severe forms of depression in adulthood. The relationship of early parent death with later alcholism, other forms of depression, and milder effects within the general population also is suggested. A number of factors that may mitigate the long‐term effects of the loss are discussed. The experience of early parent death is conceptualized as an exceptionally visible representation of the capacity of the child to cope adaptively with developmental crisis.

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“…Although this has generally been accepted there have been views expressing caution before uncritically accepting these relationships as causal (1,2), and even in relation to such events as loss of a parent, which one might consider to be a reasonably discrete and quantifiable event, there have been widely different reports (3,4). Although such losses may well be important, they are at best a crude indicator of susceptibility to psychological illnesses, and as Rutter ( 5 ) noted, "in some cases the break up of the home is no more than a minor episode in a long history of family discord and disruption".…”

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confidence: 99%