Psychosomatic Medicine Tips for Better Browsing
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by HOFER, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by MASON, J. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by HOFER, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by MASON, J. W.

Psychosomatic Medicine 34:481-491 (1972)
© 1972 American Psychosomatic Society

A Psychoendocrine Study of Bereavement

Part I. 17-Hydroxycorticosteroid Excretion Rates of Parents Following Death of Their Children from Leukemia

MYRON A. HOFER MD1, CARL T. WOLFF MD1, STANFORD B. FRIEDMAN MD1, and JOHN W. MASON MD1

1 Adult Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, US Public Health Service, Bethesda, Maryland and Department of Neuroendocrinology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC

Address for reprint requests: Myron A. Hofer, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Montefiore Hospital, 111 East 210 Street, Bronx, New York 10467.

This study reports 17-hydroxycorticosteroid excretion rates of 40 parents during the 2 years following the death of their children from leukemia. Overall group mean rates remained unchanged, but this apparent stability was the result of an interaction between individuals with low rates during the child's illness, who significantly increased their rates at follow-up return visits to NIH, and those with high values pre-loss, who showed a significant decrease in rates during the post-loss period. A smaller number of collections made at home showed a general trend toward lower values at home than at NIH. This long-term study of subjects under two qualitatively different critical life situations indicates that each individual's chronic adrenocortical excretion levels can be significantly different during a period of impending object loss as compared to the period of mourning after that loss and that the direction of the difference is an important characteristic of the individual subject.

Submitted on October 18, 1971
Revised on February 28, 1972




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Psychosom. Med.Home page
F. Lamprecht and M. Sack
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Revisited
Psychosom Med, March 1, 2002; 64(2): 222 - 237.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 Am. J. Clin. Nutr.Home page
J. A McLean, S. I Barr, and J. C Prior
Cognitive dietary restraint is associated with higher urinary cortisol excretion in healthy premenopausal women
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, January 1, 2001; 73(1): 7 - 12.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 AM J ALZHEIMERS DIS OTHER DEMENHome page
M. G. Austrom and H. C. Hendrie
Death of the personality: The grief response of the Alzheimer's disease family caregiver
American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, March 1, 1990; 5(2): 16 - 27.
[Abstract] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1972 by the American Psychosomatic Society