Abstract:
This paper points to a more expansive conception of grief by arguing that the losses of illness can be genuine objects of grief.
I argue for this by illuminating underappreciated structural features of typical grief — that is, grief over a bereavement — which are shared but under-recognized. I offer a common chronic illness, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), as a striking case study.
I then use this analysis to highlight some clinical challenges that arise should this claim receive uptake in clinical practice.
Extant literature on CFS/ME tells us that rates of comorbid depression are atypically high. If one accepts that people with CFS/ ME can grieve over losses associated with the condition, and that grief can be easily mistaken for depression in this context, this might suggest that rates of comorbid depression are inflated.
I show, however, that the challenge of distinguishing between healthy and pathological grief arises in its place, and is just as tricky to solve.
Source: Byrne, Eleanor Alexandra. Grief in Chronic Illness: A Case Study of CFS/ME. Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 29, Numbers 9-10, September 2022, pp. 175-200(26). https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/imp/jcs/2022/00000029/f0020009/art00009