Complicated Grief
Mood Disorder
Mood Disorders are among the most common Psychological Disorders, and the risk of developing them is increasing worldwide, particularly in younger people. Mood disorders involve disabling disturbances in emotion-from the sadness of depression to the unrealistic elation and irritability of mania. Mood disorders in children are fundamentally similar to mood disorders in adults.
About Complicated Grief:
At the stage of Severe Grief, Suicidal thoughts increase substantially and focus mostly on joining the beloved deceased. The ability to imagine events in the future is generally impaired, since it is difficult to think of a future without the deceased. Individuals also have difficulty regulating their own emotions, which tend to become rigid and infexitble. Many of the Psychological and Social factors related to mood disorder in general, including a history of past depressive episodes, also predict the development of what is called the Syndrome of complicated Grief, although this reaction can develop without a preexisting depressed state.
In children and young adults, the sudden loss of a parent makes them particularly vulnerable to severe depression beyond the normal time for grieving , suggesting the need for immediate intervention for some. Very strong yearning in complicated grief seems to be associated with the activation of the dopamine neurotransmitter system. Brain-imaging studies indicate that areas of the brain associated with close relationships and attachment are active in grieving people, in addition to areas of the brain associated with more general emotional responding.
SYMPTOMS
1. Recurrent, strong feelings of yearning, wanting very much to be united with the person who died; possibly even a wish to die in order to be with deceased loved one.
2. Pangs of deep Sadness or remorse, episodes of crying or sobbing.
3. Entail hallucinatory experiences of seeing or hearing deceased person.
4. Struggle to accept the reality of death, wishing to protest against it, these may be some feelings of bitterness or anger about the death.
5. Somatic distress: uncontrollable sighing, digestive Symptoms, loss of appetite, dry mouth, feelings of hollowness, sleep disturbance, fatigue, exhaustion or Weakness, restlessness, aimless activity, difficulty initiating or maintaining organized activities.
6. Feeling disconnected from the world or other people, indifferent, not interested, or irritable with others.
CAUSES
Sudden demise of the family, friends or loved one causes Complicated Grief.
TREATMENTS
In cases of complicated grief, the Rituals intended to help us face and accept death were ineffective. As with Victims suffering from Posttraumatic stress, one therapeutic approach is to help grieving individuals re experience the trauma under close supervision. Usually, the grieving person is encouraged to talk about the loved one, the death, and the meaning of loss while experiencing all the associated emotions, until the person can come to terms with reality. This would include incorporating positive emotions associated with memories of the relationship into the intense negative emotions connected with the loss, and arriving at the position that it is possible to cope with the pain and life will go on, there by achieving a state of integrated grief. Several studies have demonstrated that this approach is Successful compared to alternative psychological treatments.
Find Treatment Program here
REFERENCE
David H. Barlow, BOSTON UNIVERSITY
V. Mark Durand, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA- ST. PETERSBERG
2. ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY: 9TH EDITION
Davision G.C., Neale, J.M. and Kring, A.M.
3. ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Allov. L.B.: Riskind, J.H. and Manos, M.J.
4. ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE. NY: Harper and Collins. 2000
Carson. R.C. and Butcher. N.J.