Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder as Fetish

Abstract

This chapter describes the etiology, diagnostic and clinical features, differential diagnosis, epidemiology, pathophysiology, assessment, and treatment of CG. Because of its simplicity and the substantial prior clinical literature using the term, this chapter uses the term 'complicated grief' (CG). In CG, this mental representation of the person and the attachment relationship does not fully incorporate the loss. Instead, patients experience a persistent feeling of traumatic loss as they feel continued discord between their explicit memory of the loss and implicit representation of the loved one and their attachment relationship. Nevertheless, psychiatric comorbidity is common among individuals with CG and should be carefully assessed. Complicated grief therapy (CGT) is a 16-session manualized weekly treatment designed to specifically target symptoms of CG. CGT integrates an attachment model and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) components and focuses on both grief and restoration strategies designed to assist in the natural recovery process following loss. CGT has also been shown to be more efficacious than the antidepressant citalopram in treating CG symptoms. Complicated grief is clearly distinct from depression and anxiety, causes significant distress and impaired functioning, is associated with negative outcomes including elevated suicide risk, and responds to targeted treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)