Pre-Loss Demographic and Psychological Predictors of Complicated Grief among Relatives of Terminally Ill Cancer Patients

Attachment Style Dimensions Can Affect Prolonged Grief Risk in Caregivers of Terminally Ill Patients With Cancer

“…StatSoft Version 5.0 was used for statistical analysis. Based on the effects reported in previous researches, 15 …”

“…[11][12][13][14] Prolonged grief disorder is a psychopathological condition that has been recently described as the failure of the transition from acute to integrated grief within 6 to 12 months after the death of a loved one. 15,16 It is a debilitating disorder characterized by sadness, insomnia, absence of hunger, inattention, distressing moods, turbulence, confusing thoughts, and feelings of aloneness and emptiness. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Despite prolonged grief disorder has been associated with anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression, [26][27][28][29] it has recently been proposed as a specific diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition; DSM-5).…”

“…37 Recent studies showed that prolonged grief risk is associated with female gender, lower ability to recognize emotions, 15,38 and lower age of the patients who died. 15,26 Moreover, some studies 39,40 showed that prolonged grief disorder seems to be associated with the closeness and the intensity of the relationship with the loved one, as well as with the circumstances surrounding the bereavement, where an unexpected, sudden, violent, or premature loss of a close and intense relationship is highly likely to cause a prolonged grief disorder. 40 Despite encouraging data, 37,40,41 which suggest that prolonged grief risk is associated with the type of relationship between the caregiver and the patients, at the present time, there are many studies about the psychopathological comorbidity associated with prolonged grief disorder, but few of these have investigated the role of different attachment styles or dimensions on the prolonged grief risk.…”

Persistent complex bereavement disorder in caregivers of terminally ill patients undergoing supportive-expressive treatment: a pilot study

“…However, 7-10% of bereaved individuals (Guldin et al, 2011;Kersting et al, 2011;Newson et al, 2011;Shear et al, 2013) can experience an atypical reaction defined as a deviation from the normal experience of grief, in terms of course and intensity (Di Giacinto et al, 2015;Lombardo et al, 2012Lombardo et al, , 2014Prigerson & Jacobs, 2001). This atypical reaction may induce a chronic and intensive emotional experience or an inhibited response with a delayed onset of symptoms (Lombardo et al, 2012(Lombardo et al, , 2014Mikulincer & Shaver, 2008).…”

“…Prigerson has focused attention on the persistence of a specific set of symptoms related to pain about the loss and to significant impairment of physical and mental health for at least six months (Lai et al, 2014a;Prigerson et al, 1995). There is a discrete overlap in the description of the two nomenclature, such as difficulty of adaptation, inability to move forward with lives, difficulty to fulfil responsibilities, somatic symptoms and disinterest in establishing new relationships (Horowitz et al, 1993(Horowitz et al, , 1997Lai et al, 2014a,b;Lombardo et al, 2012Lombardo et al, , 2014. However, there are also some specific differences between the two nomenclature: Prigerson considered the ''separation distress'' and the ''presence of dysfunctioning'' as essential criteria for the diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder including ''loneliness'' and ''emotional (Chiambretto et al, 2008;Prigerson et al, 2008), while Horowitz considered ''sleep disorders'' (Horowitz et al, 1997).…”