Question
What are the warning signs of prolonged grief disorder?
Answer
Some of the warning signs of prolonged grief disorder may include the following:
- Feeling as though part of you has died
- A sense of disbelief about the death
- Avoidance of reminders that the person is dead
- Strong emotional pain related to the death (anger, bitterness, or sorrow)
- Difficulty moving on with your life (socializing with friends, pursuing interests, planning for the future)
- Emotional numbness
- Feeling that life is meaningless
- Extreme loneliness (feeling alone or separate from others)
Feeling as though a part of you has died. This is called also called identity disruption. A sense of disbelief about the death. Did this really happen? Avoidance of reminders that the person is dead or efforts even to avoid the reminders can also include strong emotional pain related to the death, anger, bitterness, or sorrow. Difficulty moving on with your life, socializing with friends, pursuing interests that used to engage you, or planning for your future. A sense of emotional numbness and feeling that life is meaningless. Also, extreme loneliness, feeling that no one can understand your situation.
This list of eight items is in the DSM 5 TR criteria for this diagnosis. People have to have experienced these symptoms for at least 12 months. And for children and adolescents, this can be a grief that it is experienced at least six months ago. In addition, at least three warning signs/symptoms should be experienced to some clinically significant degree. Also, the duration and severity of these symptoms are also clearly meant to exceed any social, cultural, or religious norms for the individual's culture and context. Although, culture must be considered and the symptoms are also not better explained by another mental health disorder.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, When We Can't Say Goodbye: Coping with Sudden or Unexpected Death, presented by Holly Nelson-Becker, PhD, MSW, LCSW, ACSW
