Bereavement and the acceptance of professional service

The results of a pilot study indicate that recently bereaved individuals are predisposed to accept an unsolicited offer of professional help. A conceptual orientation is presented, for the purpose of explaining why 90% of the family units accepted a psychiatric social work service, which suggests that survivors will accept an offer of professional assistance when they define the bereavement situation as a crisis in need of uncustomary sources of support. This definition is reached when the survivor considers lay customary support, e.g., close friends and relatives, as inadequate for relieving various problems associated with the death of a close person.