[How grief moved from culture to psychiatry]

Abstract

Bereavement has been debated among psychiatric experts since 2000. In addition to its precise manifestations, its duration is discussed: six months for the ICD-1, one year for the DSM-5-TR. Grief is not an illness but a process that can be blocked in the announcement phase of the death or in the depression phase following the absence. In all cases, acceptance of the loss is impossible. Psychiatric treatment can define a bereaved person who is suffering too much, and can reduce his or her suffering, but it cannot accelerate the process of remembering and then resuming a life without the loved one. Social rituals and psychosocial support have had this place for millennia in cultures throughout humanity.

Keywords: Covid-19; accompagnement psychosocial des endeuillés; death; deuil prolongé; mort; nosographie psychiatrique; prolonged mourning; psychiatric nosography; psychosocial support for the bereaved; rite.