Perinatal Grief in the Indian Context: Conceptualizing and Companioning the Grieving Process

Reproductive loss takes many forms and is almost always a significant loss. In the Indian context, grieving over stillbirths is disenfranchised as the perinatal loss itself is shrouded in stigma, blame, discrimination, mistreatment, or misplaced guilt with an urgent expectation to move on. Perinatal grief exists as disconcerted feelings of numbness, sadness, helplessness, anger, guilt, or frustration. This article aims to provide a broad view of the conceptualization of perinatal loss, including its psychological, sociocultural, and theological underpinnings. The article also highlights that companioning the grieving process through psychotherapeutic approaches has had encouraging outcomes yet requires more robust research supporting their effectiveness, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including India.