Also called: Grief
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Bereavement
Bereavement is the period of grief and mourning after a death. When you grieve, it's part of the normal process of reacting to a loss. You may experience grief as a mental, physical, social or emotional reaction. Mental reactions can include anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness and despair. Physical reactions can include sleeping problems, changes in appetite, physical problems or illness.
How long bereavement lasts can depend on how close you were to the person who died, if the person's death was expected and other factors. Friends, family and faith may be sources of support. Grief counseling or grief therapy is also helpful to some people.
It sits within Mental Health and Behavior and Social/Family Issues.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Bereavement
196 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Comparison of Social Media-Based and Online Training in Grief Counseling EducationIstinye University
- A Multifaceted Intervention Strategy for Relatives of End-of-life Patients in the Emergency DepartmentAssistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
- F-PGT - Prolonged Grief Treatment for Families Affected by SuicideUniversity of Pittsburgh
- Walk With Me (WWM) for Perinatal GriefOregon Research Behavioral Intervention Strategies, Inc.
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Treat Prolonged Grief DisorderBruyère Health Research Institute.
- The Effects of Psilocybin on Social ConnectednessYale University
Research already completed
- Living Memory Home-4-Dementia Care PairsWeill Medical College of Cornell University
- P-CRP for Recent-Onset Severe TraumaZahide Betül Baydar
- CONDOL01: Evaluation on the Experience of Bereavement, of a Medical Consultation, Proposed by a Letter of CONDOLence to the Patients' Relatives Versus Standard Practice After the Death of the PatientInstitut Paoli-Calmettes
- Rise & Renew: Supporting Well-Being in Black Women After the Loss of a Loved OneLillian Haley, PhD
- Painhunting Therapy for Event Related DepressionPainhunting LLP
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Bereavement and GriefMental Health America
- Coping with Grief: Life after LossNational Institutes of Health
- Grief, Bereavement, and LossNational Cancer Institute
Related Issues
- Complicated GriefMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Coping With Grief and LossNational Institute on Aging
- Coping with the Loss of a Loved OneAmerican Cancer Society
- Suicide GriefMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: BereavementNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: GriefNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Bereavement. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Bereavement, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.