THE BEREAVEMENT EXCLUSION AND DSM‐5

Pre‐DSM‐III (where DSM is Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), a series of studies demonstrated that major depressive syndromes were common after bereavement and that these syndromes often were transient, not requiring treatment. Largely on the basis of these studies, a decision was made to exclude the diagnosis of a major depressive episode (MDE) if symptoms could be “better accounted for by bereavement than by MDE” unless symptoms were severe and very impairing. Thus, since the publication of DSM‐III in 1980, the official position of American Psychiatry has been that recent bereavement may be an exclusion criterion for the diagnosis of an MDE. This review article attempts to answer the question, “Does the best available research favor continuing the ‘bereavement exclusion’ (BE) in DSM‐5?” We have previously discussed the proposal by the DSM‐5 Mood Disorders Work Group to remove the BE from DSM‐5.