Is pathological grief lasting more than 12 months grief or depression?
Current Opinion in PsychiatryPublished 30 November 2012
Richard A. Bryant
Citations35
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score2.41
SNIP2.03
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TL;DR
There is convergent evidence that introducing psychiatric diagnoses to identify bereaved people suffering prolonged severe grief responses addresses a major public health issue, is supported by convergentEvidence, and has the potential to minimize inappropriate treatment as a result of misdiagnosis.
Abstract
There is convergent evidence that introducing psychiatric diagnoses to identify bereaved people suffering prolonged severe grief responses addresses a major public health issue, is supported by convergent evidence, and has the potential to minimize inappropriate treatment as a result of misdiagnosis.
Keywords
PsychologyMedicine
PLoS MedicineProlonged Grief Disorder: Psychometric Validation of Criteria Proposed for DSM-V and ICD-11
1,789 Citations2009Holly G. Prigerson, Mardi J. Horowitz +17 more
The psychometric validity of criteria for prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is tested to enhance the detection and care of bereaved individuals at heightened risk of persistent distress and dysfunction.
Psychiatry ResearchInventory of complicated grief: A scale to measure maladaptive symptoms of loss
1,543 Citations1995Holly G. Prigerson, Paul K. Maciejewski +7 more
The Inventory of Complicated Grief, a scale with demonstrated internal consistency, and convergent and criterion validity, provides an easily administered assessment for symptoms of complicated grief.
JAMATreatment of Complicated Grief
1,068 Citations2005Katherine Shear, Ellen Frank +2 more
Complicated grief treatment is an improved treatment over interpersonal psychotherapy, showing higher response rates and faster time to response.
Depression and AnxietyComplicated grief and related bereavement issues for DSM-5
991 Citations2011M. Katherine Shear, Naomi M. Simon +23 more
Modifications in the bereavement V code and refinement of bereavement exclusions in major depression and other disorders are discussed.
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyResilience to loss and chronic grief: A prospective study from preloss to 18-months postloss.
773 Citations2002George A. Bonanno, Camille B. Wortman +6 more
American Journal of PsychiatryComplicated grief and bereavement-related depression as distinct disorders: preliminary empirical validation in elderly bereaved spouses
725 Citations1995Holly G. Prigerson, Erica Frank +7 more
The symptoms of complicated grief appear to define a unique disorder deserving of specialized treatment and appear to be associated with enduring functional impairments.
American Journal of PsychiatryDiagnostic criteria for complicated grief disorder
639 Citations1997Mardi J. Horowitz, Bryna Siegel +4 more
A new diagnosis of complicated grief disorder may be indicated, which would include the current experience of intense intrusive thoughts, pangs of severe emotion, distressing yearnings, and maladaptive levels of loss of interest in personal activities.
Journal of Affective DisordersPrevalence of complicated grief in a representative population-based sample
623 Citations2011Anette Kersting, Elmar Brähler +2 more
The results indicate that CG is prevalent in the population, and risk factors were identified.
Clinical Psychology ReviewThe varieties of grief experience
613 Citations2001George A. Bonanno, Stacey Kaltman
Empirical evidence on the longitudinal course, phenomenological features, and possible diagnostic relevance of grief reactions was generally consistent with the DSM-IV's view of bereavement and provided little support for more complicated taxonomies.
JAMAAn Empirical Examination of the Stage Theory of Grief
590 Citations2007Paul K. Maciejewski, Baohui Zhang +2 more
Identification of the normal stages of grief following a death from natural causes enhances understanding of how the average person cognitively and emotionally processes the loss of a family member.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical PsychologyTreatment of complicated grief: A comparison between cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive counseling.
453 Citations2007Paul A. Boelen, Jos de Keijser +2 more
Suicide and Life-Threatening BehaviorSuicidality and Bereavement: Complicated Grief as Psychiatric Disorder Presenting Greatest Risk for Suicidality
448 Citations2004Amy E. Latham, Holly G. Prigerson
The study results indicate that CG substantially heightened the risk of suicidality after controlling for important confounders such as MDD and PTSD, suggesting that CG poses an independent psychiatric risk for suicidal thoughts and actions.
American Journal of PsychiatryComplicated grief as a disorder distinct from bereavement-related depression and anxiety: a replication study
343 Citations1996Holly G. Prigerson, Andrew J. Bierhals +5 more
The results confirmed the authors' previous findings demonstrating the distinction between symptoms of complicated grief and symptoms of bereavement-related depression and anxiety.
Comprehensive PsychiatryThe prevalence and correlates of psychiatric comorbidity in individuals with complicated grief
340 Citations2007Naomi M. Simon, Katherine Shear +7 more
The authors' data provide further support for the need to identify CG as a psychiatric disorder and it is likely that the rate of CG without comorbidity is underestimated because fewer DSM diagnoses would have been made if a judgment about grief had been taken into consideration.
Clinical Psychology ReviewA case for establishing complicated grief as a distinct mental disorder in DSM-V
334 Citations2004Wendy G. Lichtenthal, Dean G. Cruess +1 more
It is argued that the establishment of CG as a diagnostic entity is essential because its symptoms are associated with enduring mental and physical health morbidity and require specifically designed clinical interventions.
American Journal of PsychiatryTreatment of Bereavement-Related Major Depressive Episodes in Later Life: A Controlled Study of Acute and Continuation Treatment With Nortriptyline and Interpersonal Psychotherapy
310 Citations1999Charles F. Reynolds, Mark D. Miller +8 more
Nortriptyline was superior to placebo in achieving remission of bereavement-related major depressive episodes and the combination of medication and psychotherapy was associated with the highest rate of treatment completion.
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyRumination and psychological distress among bereaved partners.
302 Citations1997Susan Nolen–Hoeksema, Angela Barron McBride +1 more
Recently bereaved men who evidenced more negative ruminative thoughts in free-response interviews showed greater psychological distress on several outcome measures both 1 month and 12 months after their loss and less increase in positive morale over this 12-month period.
NeuroImageCraving love? Enduring grief activates brain's reward center
299 Citations2008Mary‐Frances O'Connor, David K. Wellisch +4 more
This study supports the hypothesis that attachment activates reward pathways, and shows that for those with CG, reminders of the deceased still activate neural reward activity, which may interfere with adapting to the loss in the present.
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical NeuroscienceThe influence of symptoms of prolonged grief disorder, depression, and anxiety on quality of life among bereaved adults
287 Citations2007Paul A. Boelen, Holly G. Prigerson
PGD (defined according to the newest criteria) is found to be distinct from depression and anxiety and to be predictive of reduced quality of life and mental health.
Journal of Affective DisordersThe prevalence and characteristics of complicated grief in older adults
284 Citations2011Rachel S. Newson, Paul A. Boelen +3 more
The prevalence of complicated grief in older adults in the general population was noteworthy and it was demonstrated as a separate condition to anxiety and depression.
Journal of Abnormal PsychologyIs there more to complicated grief than depression and posttraumatic stress disorder? A test of incremental validity.
283 Citations2007George A. Bonanno, Yuval Neria +4 more
With depression and PTSD controlled, grief emerged as a unique predictor of functioning, both cross-sectionally and prospectively, providing convergent support for the incremental validity of complicated grief as an independent marker of bereavement-related psychopathology.
Archives of General PsychiatryExtending the Bereavement Exclusion for Major Depression to Other Losses
260 Citations2007Jerome C. Wakefield, Mark F. Schmitz +2 more
The NCS data do not support the validity of uniquely excluding uncomplicated bereavement but not uncomPLicated reactions to other losses from MDD diagnosis, and uncomplication reactions, whether triggered by bereavement or other loss, are significantly lower than complicated reactions on almost all disorder indicators.
American Journal of PsychiatryComplicated Grief, Depression, and Anxiety as Distinct Postloss Syndromes: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Study
251 Citations2005Paul A. Boelen, Jan van den Bout
The authors used confirmatory factor analysis to replicate earlier findings that complicated grief, depression, and anxiety are distinct syndromes.
Journal of Traumatic StressPrevalence and psychological correlates of complicated grief among bereaved adults 2.5–3.5 years after September 11th attacks
243 Citations2007Yuval Neria, Raz Gross +9 more
In multivariate analyses, CG was associated with female gender, loss of a child, death of deceased at the World Trade Center, and live exposure to coverage of the attacks on television.
CrisisComplicated Grief in Survivors of Suicide
242 Citations2004Ann M. Mitchell, Yookyung Kim +2 more
Preliminary results indicate that health care professional's assessments and interventions for complicated grief should take into consideration the bereaved's familial and/or social relationship to the deceased.
FOCUS The Journal of Lifelong Learning in PsychiatryTreatment of Bereavement-Related Major Depressive Episodes in Later Life: A Controlled Study of Acute and Continuation Treatment With Nortriptyline and Interpersonal Psychotherapy
234 Citations2004Charles F. Reynolds, Mark D. Miller +8 more
Behavioral Sleep MedicineInsomnia and Complicated Grief Symptoms in Bereaved College Students
203 Citations2005Heather Gaines Hardison, Robert A. Neimeyer +1 more
As predicted, the rate of insomnia was significantly higher in the bereaved sample than in a nonbereaved comparison group, and several specific sleep variables were significantly related to complicated grief symptomatology.
Journal of Affective DisordersProlonged Grief Disorder, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder are distinguishable syndromes
194 Citations2010Paul A. Boelen, Rens van de Schoot +3 more
This is the first confirmatory factor analysis study showing that symptoms of PGD, depression, and PTSD represent distinguishable syndromes and should be addressed in the assessment and treatment of bereaved people seeking treatment.
Journal of Affective DisordersPrevalence and determinants of complicated grief in general population
192 Citations2010Daisuke Fujisawa, Mitsunori Miyashita +4 more
Clinicians should pay particular attention to the bereaved families with abovementioned risk factors in order to identify people at risk for future development of complicated grief.
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent PsychologyThe Effectiveness of Bereavement Interventions With Children: A Meta-Analytic Review of Controlled Outcome Research
192 Citations2007Joseph M. Currier, Jason M. Holland +1 more
It is concluded that the child grief interventions do not appear to generate the positive outcomes of other professional psychotherapeutic interventions, and studies that intervened in a time-sensitive manner and those that implemented specific selection criteria produced better outcomes than investigations that did not attend to these factors.
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical NeuroscienceRuminative coping as avoidance
139 Citations2007Margaret Stroebe, Paul A. Boelen +4 more
The case made is that rumination is not an opposite form of coping from suppression or denial, but that it is a similar phenomenon to these, and different from the types of confrontation that take place in so-called "grief work".
Depression and AnxietyInforming the symptom profile of complicated grief
133 Citations2010Naomi M. Simon, Melanie M. Wall +4 more
Examination of the commonly used Inventory of Complicated Grief scale, derived from a diverse and predominantly clinical help seeking population, adds an important perspective to existing suggestions for DSM5 criteria for CG.
The Journal of Nervous and Mental DiseaseSpousal Bereavement in Older Adults
130 Citations2007Carol H. Ott, Robert J. Lueger +2 more
The purpose of this study was to identify empirically patterns of grief among older bereaved spouses by using a longitudinal hierarchical cluster procedure with the Ward agglomeration method to identify distinct clusters based on grief scores.
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral AssessmentThe Underlying Structure of Grief: A Taxometric Investigation of Prolonged and Normal Reactions to Loss
124 Citations2008Jason M. Holland, Robert A. Neimeyer +2 more
Journal of Palliative MedicineFollow-Up Study of Complicated Grief among Parents Eighteen Months after a Child's Death in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
113 Citations2011Kathleen L. Meert, Katherine Shear +10 more
Complicated grief symptoms decrease among parents between 6 and 18 months after their child's death in the PICU; however, high symptom levels persists for some.
Journal of Affective DisordersComparison of two diagnostic systems for Complicated Grief
104 Citations2006Simon Forstmeier, Andreas Maercker
Behaviour Research and TherapyThe role of cognitive variables in psychological functioning after the death of a first degree relative
102 Citations2003Paul A. Boelen, Jan van den Bout +1 more
International Journal of Social PsychiatryProlonged Grief Disorder, Depression, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Bereaved Kosovar Civilian War Survivors: a Preliminary Investigation
94 Citations2009Nexhmedin Morina, Visar Rudari +2 more
Depression and AnxietyComplicated grief associated with Hurricane Katrina
88 Citations2011M. Katherine Shear, Katie A. McLaughlin +4 more
Nonbereavement losses accounted for the vast majority of hurricane‐related possible CG despite risk of CG being much higher in response to bereavement than to other losses, arguing for expansion of research on CG beyond bereavement and alerts clinicians to the need to address postdisaster grief associated with a wide range of losses.
Death StudiesThe Two-Track Model of Bereavement Questionnaire (TTBQ): Development and Validation of a Relational Measure
77 Citations2009Simon Shimshon Rubin, Ofri Bar Nadav +4 more
The Two-Track Model of Bereavement Questionnaire (TTBQ) was designed to assess response to loss over time and was shown to have both construct and concurrent validity.
Journal of Abnormal PsychologyLevels of specificity of autobiographical memories and of biographical memories of the deceased in bereaved individuals with and without complicated grief.
76 Citations2007Ann‐Marie Golden, Tim Dalgleish +1 more
Bereaved individuals with complicated grief who reported intrusive, specific memories from the life of their deceased loved one, and matched bereaved controls without CG, support the proposal that memories tied to the source of an individual's distress are immune to the processes that underlie the standard reduced specificity effect.
The Journal of Nervous and Mental DiseaseShould Prolonged Grief Be Reclassified as a Mental Disorder in DSM-5?
74 Citations2012Jerome C. Wakefield
The proposed diagnostic criteria for PGD fail to discriminate disorder from intense normal grief and are likely to yield massive false-positive diagnoses, so the proposal to add pathological grief categories to DSM-5 should be withdrawn pending further research to identify more valid criteria for diagnosing PGD.
Current Opinion in PsychiatryDSM-5 proposals for mood disorders: a cost–benefit analysis
60 Citations2010Michael B. First
A cost–benefit analysis of mood proposals yields mixed results, with some having significant benefits and others carrying the risk of significant problems.
PubMedThe prevalence of complicated grief among Bam earthquake survivors in Iran.
56 Citations2007A. Ghaffarinejad, Mohammadreza Ahmadi-Mousavi +2 more
Existence of complicated grief in more than two-thirds of respondents requires more attention of mental health services, and rebuilding of homes and solving the residential problems of survivors are the factors, which could help survivors to find their mental health within a shorter period.
PsychoneuroendocrinologyDiurnal cortisol in Complicated and Non-Complicated Grief: Slope differences across the day
46 Citations2011Mary‐Frances O'Connor, David K. Wellisch +3 more
Results demonstrate that the two groups do not differ on demographic variables (except education), but as hypothesized, those with Complicated Grief have a flatter slope across the day, controlling for education and body mass index.
The British Journal of PsychiatryGrief as a psychiatric disorder
45 Citations2012Richard A. Bryant
The revisions DSM-5 and ICD-11 are attempting to describe psychopathological reactions to bereavement by delineating between depressive disorder and normal bereavement-related depressed state, but there is strong evidence for a diagnosis of prolonged grief that is distinguished from depression and involves marked impairment.
The Journal of Clinical PsychiatryIs DSM-IV Bereavement Exclusion for Major Depressive Episode Relevant to Severity and Pattern of Symptoms?
45 Citations2009Emmanuelle Corruble, Virginie‐Anne Chouinard +3 more
Two symptom cues, suicidal ideation and worthlessness, and the majority of other depressive symptoms were more pronounced in bereavement-excluded individuals than in MDE controls, which should result in patients failing to be correctly diagnosed and treated.
The Journal of Nervous and Mental DiseaseShould Uncomplicated Bereavement-Related Depression Be Reclassified as a Disorder in the DSM-5?
35 Citations2011Jerome C. Wakefield
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is undergoing revision in preparation for a fifth edition (DSM-5), and the DSM-5 Work Groups have proposed many changes to various diagnostic criteria sets, including eliminating the bereavement exclusion from the diagnosis of major depression.
Culture Medicine and PsychiatryDiscourses of Loss and Bereavement in Tigray, Ethiopia
22 Citations2007Dag Nordanger
The ethnography suggests that the Tigrayan psychosocial discourses make sense and may be functional in their context, as the marginal socioeconomic conditions of Tigray force individuals to concentrate on their day-to-day struggle for survival.
Bipolar DisordersComplicated grief and impaired sleep in patients with bipolar disorder
20 Citations2007Guy Maytal, Alyson K. Zalta +7 more
The data indicate a significant association of CG with poor sleep in individuals with BD, which suggests disturbed sleep may be a mechanism by which CG increases the burden of illness in BD.
Journal of Affective DisordersThe relationships between complicated grief, depression, and alexithymia according to the seriousness of complicated grief in the Japanese general population
18 Citations2011Minako Deno, Mitsunori Miyashita +3 more
Findings showed that alexithymia scarcely contributed to complicated grief compared to depression and that the contribution ratio in the high risk group was lower than that in the low risk group.