Effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy on anger, guilt, and self-destructive behaviors in people with prolonged grief disorder: A randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Grief, following the loss of loved ones, involves emotions from deep sorrow to intense anger. Various psychological interventions exist for bereavement, with emotion-focused therapy (EFT) being a notable choice. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of EFT in addressing the psychological factors associated with prolonged grief disorder (PGD), specifically targeting anger, guilt, and self-destructive behaviors in individuals with PGD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current study was a clinical trial design with an experimental and control group with a 3-month follow-up. Forty patients with prolonged bereavement disorder were selected based on their availability and randomly categorized into two experimental and control groups (20 people in each group) in Tehran, Iran, in 2022-2023. For the intervention (experimental) group, EFT was performed in the form of 10 1-h sessions (once a week individually and online), and the control group was not treated. Assessment tools included the Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2), Guilt Inventory, and Self-Harm Inventory (SHI). Analysis of variance with repeated measurements was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: Multivariate analysis of variance of anger, guilt, and self-destructive behaviors showed no significant difference found between the two groups in the pre-test (P > 0.05). However, the difference between the mean scores of the two groups was significant on these variables in the post-test and follow-up stages (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study demonstrate that EFT is an effective intervention for addressing anger, guilt, and self-destructive behaviors among individuals diagnosed with PGD.