Grief & Health

Doctors may be missing a bet when they insist that grief is a normal reaction to the loss of a loved one, a cherished possession, or a job. In fact, grief itself may be a disease, the University of Rochester's Dr. George L. Engel told the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Montreal last week.

To the obvious objection that grief is a natural response, Dr. Engel retorted that a wound or a burn is a natural response to physical injury, but that does not make the wounded or burned part "normal." Major difference, he indicated, is that a burned patient goes to his doctor to have the burn treated, whereas the grief-stricken patient, if he goes to the doctor at all, may not tell about his grief. He is more likely to complain of physical symptoms. Yet these, Dr. Engel said, may have been touched off by the grief. Even the folklore notion that some people die of grief is not to be lightly dismissed, he insisted; there is no scientific proof that it is untrue, and it is worth investigating.

If his theory holds up, Dr. Engel suggested, grief may be added to the list of disorders--epilepsy, alcoholism, mental illness--that for centuries were regarded as outside the scope of medicine. If it does not, something will at least be learned about the role of grief in psychosomatic illness.

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