The incidence of childhood bereavement was determined for a sample of one thousand Veterans Administration outpatients (of whom one quarter were diagnosed as psychotic). These figures were compared statistically with expected incidence figures from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company estimates and from other studies. As expected, the patient group showed a markedly higher incidence of early loss (before twelve years). In contrast to the control data, the patient population showed a decreasing incidence of parental loss as the age of the child increased, although the data was insufficient to delimit any specific traumatic time. MMPI studies on one hundred subjects showed marked depressive features but no typical 'orphan' profile. Problems of masculine identity predominated in those who had lost their fathers, and oral problems involving their marital partners prevailed in those who had lost their mothers.