Behavioral Activation with Bereaved Older Adults: Unique Clinical Considerations

Bereavement in later life: Theory, assessment, and intervention.

“…Such strategies are congruent with the restoration focus of the DPM (Stroebe & Schut, 2010) as well as with research documenting their efficacy in the treatment of complicated grievers in general (Papa, Sewell, Garrison-Diehn, & Rummel, 2013) and bereaved elderly in particular (Acierno et al, 2012). Holcomb (2012a) and others (Holland & Diliberto, 2012) have offered guidelines for the use of behavioral activation in bereavement.…”

“…A growing body of literature suggests that older adults with MCI or problems with executive function may have difficulty engaging in and benefiting from more cognitively focused treatments for depression and anxiety, which often require older adults to think abstractly, make decisions, and separate relevant from irrelevant details of their lives (Caudle et al, 2007;Mohlman, 2005;Mohlman & Gorman, 2005). It has been suggested that in cases of MCI, a more behaviorally focused intervention (e.g., behavioral activation) may be more appropriate (Holland & Diliberto, 2012); however, such a hypothesis has never been tested in the context of bereavement in later life. Thus, research that aims to examine cognitive functioning as a moderator of complicated grief treatment outcomes as well as the development of efficacious interventions for older adults with MCI should be a high priority, particularly given that previous research has identified a link between complicated grief and poorer cognitive functioning among the elderly (Newson et al, 2011).…”