‘It’s like the loss happened yesterday’ : prolonged grief is now a disorder in the US – so how long is too long to mourn ? | Death and dying

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    ‘It’s like the loss happened yesterday’: prolonged grief is now a disorder in the US – so how long is too long to mourn?

    Losing a loved one can be life-changing and, for some, debilitating. Could a diagnosis help, or are we medicalising a natural human emotion?
    ▻https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/16/prolonged-grief-disorder-diagnosis-us

    #psychiatrisation #deuil #dsm4

    The idea of prolonged or extended grief has been a controversial one – is it possible, or desirable, to put a time limit on a natural human emotion? – but in March, after years of wrangling, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) officially recognised prolonged grief disorder (PGD).

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      The change, she thinks, happened gradually. Along with advances in medicine and longer life expectancies, the rise of capitalism and postwar productivity has also had an impact, she believes. The idea of “productivity” being the optimum state “is western, but it’s very American. Within that concept, it doesn’t make space for grieving or illness or all sorts of things, even care of children. We have created a somewhat artificial concept of ‘normal’ being a state of non-grieving. Then of course, you’re going to pathologise grief and [believe that] if you are clinging to your grief, that’s an abnormal way to live your life, as opposed to recognising that grief is a constant intimate companion. When you lose someone close to you, it’s more like an amputation. It’s not like getting the flu and recovering. It’s like: ‘I’ve lost a limb, and now I have to adjust.’ So nothing you do is exactly the same again.”

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