Prolonged Grief - Final

Prolonged Grief

By: Maria R. Xelhua

Risk Factors, Potential Causes, Contributing Factors

What is Prolonged Grief?

"Approximately 5-10% of individuals experience elevated and enduring grief after losing a loved one due to natural causes" (2).

Intense longing or yearning for a deceased person with intense emotional pain for over 6 months after their loss."Only a minority develops persistent symptoms, yielding sufficient distress and disability to warrant a diagnosis of disordered grief" (1).

1. Demographic
1. lower education, low income
2. Relationship
1. death of a child, partner
3. Cause of death
1. an unnatural/violent loss, unexpected death

Symptoms: PTSD, sleep disturbance, social isolation, persistent emotional stress, guilt, anger, hopelessness, increased use of alcohol or other substances, inattention to self-care (3)

What can be done to mitigate the effects?

Stages in Developing Prolonged Grief (1)

Stage 0: Individuals processing the death of a significant other

1. With symptoms and risk factors (could happen within the first anniversary of the death)

Stage 1: Characterized by moderately distressing and disabling non-specific symptoms or subclinical signs of persistent distressing and disabling griefStage 2: The person passes the diagnostic threshold

1. In ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR

Stage 3: Characterized by persistent residual symptoms or recurrent relapseStage 4: Severe prolonged grief with comorbidity, causing substantial morbidity

- Identifying the risk factors is the key to healing and more efficient treatment to prevent a disorder from becoming chronic or developing even further- It can help reduce stigma, help caregivers and providers provide support, and efficient treatment, and increase awareness to encourage individuals to seek help.

References

1. Boelen, P. A., & Lenferink, L. I. (2022). Prolonged grief disorder in DSM-5-TR: Early predictors and longitudinal measurement invariance. The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 56(6), 667–674. https://doi.org/10.1177/00048674211025728 2. Buur, C., Zachariae, R., Komischke-Konnerup, K. B., Marello, M. M., Schierff, L. H., & O’Connor, M. (2024). Risk factors for prolonged grief symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 107, 102375–102375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102375 3. Simon, N. M., & Shear, M. K. (2024). Prolonged Grief Disorder. The New England Journal of Medicine, 391(13), 1227–1236. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMcp2308707

These factors play a part in prolonged grief by increasing emotional pain and making it challenging to process their loss to heal. Being able to identify these risk factors allows health providers to decide on a treatment to help understand and accept grief for the individual to feel content in their life again.