ABSTRACT

How can complicated grief be defined? How does it differ from normal patterns of grief and grieving? Who among the bereaved is particularly at risk? Can clinical intervention reduce complications?

Complicated Grief provides a balanced, up-to-date, state-of-the-art account of the scientific foundations surrounding the topic of complicated grief. In this book, Margaret Stroebe,Henk Schut and Jan van den Bout address the basic questions about the concept, manifestations and phenomena associated with complicated grief. They bring together researchers from different disciplines, providing a broad range of cultural and societal perspectives, to enable the reader to access the scientific knowledge base regarding complicated grief, on both theoretical and empirical levels.

The book is divided into four main sections:

  • An exploration of the nature of complicated grief
  • Diagnostic categorizations
  • Contemporary research on complicated grief
  • Treament of complicated grief

Illuminating the foundations and new innovations in research, Complicated Grief will be essential reading for professionals working with bereavement such as clinical psychologists, health psychologists and psychiatrists, researchers, as well as graduate students of psychology and psychiatry.

Margaret Stroebe is Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen,The Netherlands.

Henk Schut is Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Jan van den Bout is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Contributors: Paul Boelen, Kathrin Boerner, George Bonanno, Laurie Burke, Rachel Cooper, Atle Dyregrov, Kari Dyregrov, Francesca Del Gaudio,  Ann-Marie Golden, Jennifer Jacobs, David Kissane, Rolf Kleber, Yeulin Li, Jeffrey Looi, Anthony Mancini, Mario Mikulincer, Michelle Moulds, Robert Neimeyer, Mary-Frances O'Connor, John Ogrodniczuk, William Piper, Holly G. Prigerson, Therese Rando, Beverley Raphael,  Paul C. Rosenblatt, Edward Rynearson, Henk A.W. Schut, Phillip Shaver, Margaret S. Stroebe, Jan van den Bout, Marcel van den Hout, Birgit Wagner, Jerome C. Wakefield, Edward Watkins, Talia I. Zaider.

 

part |9 pages

Introduction

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

Outline of goals and scope of the book

part |71 pages

The nature of complicated grief

chapter |14 pages

Complicated grief

Philosophical perspectives

chapter |13 pages

The concept of complicated grief

Lessons from other cultures

chapter |15 pages

On achieving clarity regarding complicated grief

Lessons from clinical practice

part |59 pages

Diagnostic categorization

chapter |16 pages

Is complicated/prolonged grief a disorder?

Why the proposal to add a category of complicated grief disorder to the DSM-5 is conceptually and empirically unsound

part |76 pages

Contemporary research on risk factors, processes, and mechanisms

part |74 pages

Treatment of complicated grief

chapter |14 pages

Prolonged grief disorder

Cognitive–behavioral theory and therapy

chapter |15 pages

Brief group therapies for complicated grief

Interpretive and supportive approaches

chapter |15 pages

Complicated grief after violent death

Identification and intervention

part |19 pages

Conclusions

chapter |17 pages

Complicated grief

Assessment of scientific knowledge and implications for research and practice