Complicated grief group therapy for community-residing persons diagnosed with serious mental illness

Abstract

The traumatic death of a significant person is an underappreciated adverse life event. Unresolved grief from traumatic death is associated with complicated grief (CG) in adulthood and both contribute to and sustain serious mental illness in adulthood. Persons diagnosed with serious mental illness experiencing CG represent vulnerable persons for whom traditional care is therapeutically insufficient, when the trauma of underlying grief is unaddressed. We examined the feasibility and impact of community implementation of Complicated Grief Group Therapy for persons diagnosed with serious mental illness with CG. Program completers showed statistically significant improvement in grief measures and interpersonal wellbeing. KEYWORDSGrief; complicated grief; group therapy; intervention; community-based; trauma BackgroundIn 2019, there were an estimated 51.5 million adults aged 18 years or older in the United States with any mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. This number represented 20.6% of all U.S. adults (National Survey on Drug Use and Health; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, [SAMHSA] 2019). Persons diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI), those having enduring, life-impairing mood and thought disorders, represent 5.2% of adults in America. This represents an estimated 13.1 million adults aged 18 years or older in the United States with serious mental illness (SMI). This number represented 5.2% of all U.S. adults. By definition, SMI is mental health disorder that causes serious functional impairment. Prevalence of SMI was higher among females (6.5%) than males (3.9%), and younger adults aged 18-25 years had the highest prevalence of SMI (8.6%) compared to adults aged 26-49 years (6.8%) and aged 50 and older (2.9%) (National Survey on Drug

The Effectiveness of Integrated Group Therapy on Prolonged Grief Disorder of Bereaved People from COVID-19 Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Research has unveiled that group therapy can reduce the effects of undesirable experiences against the bereavement phenomenon rooted in the death of loved ones and, contrary to individual therapy, can impede the extensiveness of the social isolation, anger, and anxiety stemming from the death of these people ( Para, 2009 ; Supiano et al, 2021 ).…”