Abstract
The literature on the effects of parental death upon the child's subsequent development was reviewed briefly. In the case of depressive illnesses the death of either parent prior to the child reaching the age of fifteen seemed to be correlated as a significant contributory factor. With this exception, statistical studies suggest that it is the death of a mother in the first seven years of a child's life, as opposed to that of a father, that is potentially an aetiological factor for the future development of psychoses, delinquency and psychoneuroses.
The case histories of six boys who had lost their fathers were given. In each instance there was distinct evidence that the psychological symptoms and behavioural disturbances were to be attributed in large measure to the effect of the death upon the child, and that in some cases the symptom choice was to be correlated with specific circumstances surrounding the death of the father. In some cases it was the unresolved grief reaction in the mother which helped to perpetuate the disorder in the child. Resolution of this in the mother during therapy led to improvement in the child's functioning. In other instances improvement occurred especially when the child ceased to be preoccupied with a close identification with the dead father. The sample was too small to delineate all the factors which determine why only some of the children in the families were affected. However, it was recognized that those boys who were involved most closely in their mother's grief reactions were the ones who were most disturbed.
It was pointed out that the brief treatment given these boys and their mothers appeared to be responsible for the considerable amelioration of symptoms that resulted. Despite the fact that statistical studies suggest that the death of a father does not seem to predispose to future psychiatric illness except in the case of depressions, it is felt that therapeutic intervention is worth while, especially in those instances where there is an unresolved grief reaction in the mother which is binding a particular child closely to her, thus preventing full and free psychological growth and development by fostering undue dependence upon her and too close an identification with the dead father.