COMPLICATED GRIEF AND RELATED BEREAVEMENT ISSUES FOR DSM-5

By M. Shear, N. Simon, Melanie M. Wall, S. Zisook, R. Neimeyer, N. Duan, Charles F. Reynolds III, B. Lebowitz, S. Sung, A. Ghesquiere and 15 more. Depression and Anxiety, 2011

919 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Bereavement is a severe stressor that typically incites painful and debilitating symptoms of acute grief that commonly progresses to restoration of a satisfactory, if changed, life. Normally, grief does not need clinical intervention. However, sometimes acute grief can gain a foothold and become a chronic debilitating condition called complicated grief. Moreover, the stress caused by bereavement, like other stressors, can increase the likelihood of onset or worsening of other physical or mental disorders. Hence, some bereaved people need to be diagnosed and treated. A clinician evaluating a bereaved person is at risk for both over‐and under‐diagnosis, either pathologizing a normal condition or neglecting to treat an impairing disorder. The authors of DSM IV focused primarily on the problem of over‐diagnosis, and omitted complicated grief because of insufficient evidence. We revisit bereavement considerations in light of new research findings. This article focuses primarily on a discussion of possible inclusion of a new diagnosis and dimensional assessment of complicated grief. We also discuss modifications in the bereavement V code and refinement of bereavement exclusions in major depression and other disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Health, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/15a1aa12dcc8399394f076db64476337f0df9fbd

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Citations in the corpus

“That’s My Number One Fear in Life. It’s the Police”: Examining Young Black Men’s Exposures to Trauma and Loss Resulting From Police Violence and Police Killings (2019, background): “Research suggests that the intersection of grief and trauma can complicate the grief process and precipitate depression (Shear et al., 2011), highlighting the need for focused research and clinical training to work with Black boys and men affected by police violence and police killings.”
Historical Trauma Among Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Concepts, Research, and Clinical Considerations (2011, background): “Importantly, when members of Indigenous communities experience death of close attachment figures, the intense positive attachment to the deceased may be a risk factor for complicated or prolonged grief (Shear et al. 2011).”
What is an emotional disorder? A transdiagnostic mechanistic definition with implications for assessment, treatment, and prevention (2019, background): “These individuals experience persistent negative affect, demonstrate intense emotional reactivity, and engage in excessive avoidance of any stimulus associated with the | 9 of 19BULLIS et aL. loss (Shear et al., 2011).”
Diagnosis and classification of disorders specifically associated with stress: proposals for ICD‐11 (2013, background): “Finally, there are distinctive neural dysfunctions and cognitive patterns associated with prolonged grief disorder (26,28).”