Open AccessUnderstanding and Treating Complicated Grief: What Can We Learn from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
Author(s) -
Ehlers Anke
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
clinical psychology: science and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.285
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1468-2850
pISSN - 0969-5893
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2850.2006.00015.x
Subject(s) - grief , rumination , parallels , psychology , coping (psychology) , psychotherapist , posttraumatic stress , autobiographical memory , everyday life , cognition , psychoanalysis , clinical psychology , psychiatry , epistemology , mechanical engineering , engineering , philosophy
The article outlines possible parallels between the phenomenology and treatment of complicated grief (CG) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In particular, it explores how treatment procedures used in Cognitive Therapy for PTSD (Ehlers & Clark, 2000) may be adapted for the treatment of CG. Stimulus Discrimination may be helpful in breaking the link between everyday triggers and “felt presence” memories of the deceased. Memory Updating procedures may help the patient accept that the deceased is no longer alive and no longer suffering. Reclaiming your Life procedures may help the patient access autobiographical memories that are not linked to the deceased and counteract beliefs about the value of life without the deceased. The article further addresses the necessity of specifying the idiosyncratic beliefs that prevent coming to terms with the death, of understanding the relationship between beliefs and coping strategies, and of distinguishing memories from rumination.