Relation of separation and depression to disease. I. a report on a hospitalized medical population

miliar with such expressions as "he died of a broken heart, " "he just gave in to being sick, " "there was nothing to live for, " to explain a change in the health of some in-dividuals following the loss of a loved one. These ideas come from many sources, in-cluding personal experiences, folklore, lit-erature, drama, and religious teachings. In. medicine, during the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries, it was common to ascribe illness to grief, disappointment, bereave-ment, despair, and mental depression.30 With the development of "scientific " medi-cine, interest in the pathophysiology of dis-ease took precedence. Then it was thought people died not of grief, but of heart dis-ease, cancer, etc. Within recent medical times psychologic investigations have reawakened interest in the psychological settings in which illnes