Complicated Grief

Complicated grief is an intense and long-lasting form of grief that takes over a person's life. It is natural to experience acute grief after someone close dies, but complicated grief is different. Complicated grief is a form of grief that takes hold of a person's mind and won't let go. Complicated grief is a chronic, heightened state of mourning. Its symptoms can include: Extreme focus on the loss and reminders of the loved one, Intense longing or pining for the deceased, Problems accepting the death, Numbness or detachment, Preoccupation with your sorrow, Bitterness about your loss.
 Complicated grief is sometimes treated with a type of psychological counselling (psychotherapy) called complicated grief therapy. It's similar to psychotherapy techniques used for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Japanese adults aged 18 or older (N = 1,343) using a self-rating Japanese-language version of the Complicated Grief Brief Screen. Among them, 37.0% experienced their most significant loss by expected non-violent death, 17.9% by unexpected non-violent death, and 5.5% by violent death. The mean length of time since the loss was 11.9 years (SD = 11.6). The percentage of individuals with potential CG (5 or higher score on the scale) was 2.5% among those who experienced significant loss.

Traumatic grief was measured with a modified version of the Grief Measurement Scale. Survival and regression analyses indicated that the presence of traumatic grief symptoms approximately 6 months after the death of the spouse predicted such negative health outcomes as cancer, heart trouble, high blood pressure, suicidal ideation, and changes in eating habits at 13- or 25-month follow-up. "