Complicated Grief Scientific Foundations for Health Care Professionals

Preface. Part I: Introduction. Stroebe, Schut, & van den Bout, Outline and Scope of the Book. Part II. The Nature of Complicated Grief: Conceptual Approaches. Cooper, Complicated Grief: Philosophical Perspectives. Rosenblatt, The Concept of Complicated Grief: Lessons From Other Cultures. Rando, On Achieving Clarity Regarding Complicated Grief: Lessons from Clinical Practice. Boerner, Mancini & Bonanno, On the Nature and Prevalence of Uncomplicated and Complicated Patterns of Grief. A. Dyregrov & K. Dyregrov, Complicated Grief in Children. Part III. Diagnostic Categorization: Scientific, Clinical & Societal Implications. Boelen & Prigerson, Prolonged Grief Disorder as a New Psychiatric Category in DSM-5. Wakefield, Is Complicated/Prolonged Grief a Disorder? Why the Proposal to Add a Category of Complicated Grief Disorder to the DSM-5 is Conceptually and Empirically Unsound. van den Bout & Kleber, Lessons from PTSD for Complicated Grief as a new Psychiatric Condition. Raphael, Jacobs & Looi, Complicated Grief in the Context of Other Disorders: PTSD. Part IV. Contemporary Research on Risk Factors, Processes, & Mechanisms. Burke & Neimeyer, Prospective Risk Factors for Complicated Grief: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Watkins & Moulds, Repetitive Thought: Rumination in Complicated Grief. Golden, Autobiographical Memory Processes in Complicated Grief. Mikulincer & Shaver, Attachment Insecurities and Disordered Patterns of Grief. O’Connor, Physiological Mechanisms and the Neurobiology of Complicated Grief. Part V. Treatment of Complicated Grief: Principles, Paradigms and Procedures. Boelen, van den Hout & van den Bout, Prolonged Grief Disorder: Cognitive Behavioral Theory and Therapy. Wagner, Internet-Based Bereavement Interventions and Support: An Overview. Kissane, Zaider, Li & Del Gaudio Family Therapy for Complicated Grief. Piper & Ogrodniczuk, Brief Group Therapies for Complicated Grief: Interpretative and Supportive Approaches. Rynearson, Schut & Stroebe, Complicated Grief After Violent Death: Identification and Intervention. Part VI. Conclusions. Stroebe, Schut & van den Bout, Complicated Grief: Assessment of Scientific Knowledge & Implications for Research and Practice.

Biography

Margaret Stroebe is Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Henk Schut is Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Jan van den Bout is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

"This is truly a superior book that needs to be read by researchers, practitioners, academics, and other professionals. It is an excellent analysis of where the field is at this time and a vision of where it might be going in the future. In this time of flux, it is a beacon of stability! I highly recommend this book!" – Gerry R. Cox, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA

“Stroebe, Schut and van den Bout have succeeded in drawing together leading researchers, clinicians and academics who, between them, provide a comprehensive view of a complex and contentious area of discourse that has important implications for us all.” – Colin Murray Parkes, author of Love and Loss and Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life, 4th Edition

"The book provides an up-to-date, state-of-the-art focus on complicated grief. It is addressed to researchers, practitioners and policymakers whose work brings them up against the controversies. While any number of issues resurface time and again in different chapters, the overall effect is not one of unnecessary repetition but rather of a deepening and broadening of understanding. This book makes it clear that the focus on the complications of grief has been positive and has accelerated the understanding of loss, grief and mourning in both the professional and public spheres." – Ruth Malkinson and Simon Shimshon Rubin, Therapy Today, May 2013

"Clinicians, researchers and policy makers will benefit from the wealth of research presented in this volume. (…) As a grief counsellor, this book has significantly expanded my knowledge and understanding of grief in all its complexities. It challenges assumptions about CG and will continue to inform my practice (...) It provides an excellent basis for sensitively furthering the care of bereaved people." – Jane Groom, The Australian Journal of Grief and Bereavement, Vol 14, No 3, Summer 2014