Prospective risk factors for complicated grief: A review of the empirical literature

Grieving is a natural response to the loss of a loved one, one that is repeatedly experienced by most individuals during their lifetimes. Although grief is ubiquitous, research shows that responses to loss vary among grievers. Some individuals respond resiliently, by experiencing little in the way of psychological distress (Bonanno & Kaltman, 2001), others experience acute grief for as long as 1–2 years (Bonanno & Mancini, 2006), and still others experience severe, debilitating, and sometimes life-threatening grief for a protracted length of time – a condition known as complicated grief (CG; Prigerson, Frank, et al., 1995) or prolonged grief disorder (PGD; Prigerson et al., 2009). Therefore, because of the increased precision with which we can identify the distinct characteristics of CG (Holland, Neimeyer, Boelen, & Prigerson, 2009), better scales with which to measure it (Prigerson, Frank, et al., 1995), and improved therapies with which to treat it (Shear, Frank, Houch, & Reynolds, 2005), isolating prospective risk factors is crucial. Our primary goal in this chapter is to identify empirically supported factors that predict subsequent susceptibility to the full range of responses to loss, from common to complicated grief, that merit further scientific and clinical attention.