Late-life bereavement and complicated grief: a proposed comprehensive framework.

OBJECTIVES

The construct of complicated grief (CG) has garnered increased empirical attention since it has been proposed as a diagnostic category for the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V. The aim of this article is to critically examine construct validity in light of a proposed conceptual framework, with special emphasis on understanding late-life bereavement.

METHOD: This is a review article that critically examined current bereavement and grief models. We explored discriminant and convergent validity between CG and uncomplicated grief (UG) and other psychopathological constructs in terms of symptom intensity, symptom trajectories, bereavement outcomes, and treatment response.

RESULTS

The findings from this review show mixed support for differentiating CG from other outcomes of bereavement for the following reasons: (1) a clear boundary between CG and UG has not been adequately supported, (2) symptoms of CG and bereavement-related depression and anxiety overlap, although there is some evidence of incremental validity in that CG symptoms predict global functioning above and beyond symptoms of depression, and (3) the treatment literature demonstrated that general grief interventions and treatment targeted for improving depression are ineffective at treating symptoms of CG, whereas interventions specially tailored to treating CG have been moderately effective. The findings also emphasize the importance of considering pre-bereavement circumstances, such as preexisting depression, in the conceptualization of broader bereavement outcome.

CONCLUSION

There were mixed findings supporting the construct validation of CG. A comprehensive framework that emphasizes pre-bereavement circumstances was proposed in order to better predict various grief trajectories and outcomes of late-life loss.