Complicated Grief – follow-up

By Lauren Williams | September 26, 2021

I recently posted about complicated (prolonged) grief, grief which a person gets stuck in for longer and/or more intense periods than is considered typical. The usual cause of complicated grief may be the loss of a loved one, but I found myself curious about the possibility that other losses could bring it on as well, and asked The Center for Prolonged Grief, Columbia School of Social Work:

“Layperson question regarding complicated grief: Is complicated grief truly only a challenge for people grieving their loss of a person? Can it be activated by other kinds of loss, for example, loss of professional identity, divorce?”

Natalia Skritskaya, PhD (pronouns: she/her/hers), CGT Trainer, Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, Center for Complicated (Prolonged) Grief, Columbia University

kindly answered:

“Thank you for your email. Our main expertise and research studies are focused on grief after the death of a loved one, but there are other losses that can trigger a similar grief reaction. A loss of an important relationship or divorce is definitely one of them. I have successfully used our complicated grief treatment with clients grieving their divorce. We know that non-bereavement losses can also lead to complicated (prolonged) grief, but there is less research about those losses.

In practice, experienced clinicians can use our approach with a range of losses if a client seems to be struggling with complicated/prolonged grief. You may be aware that we have a directory of clinicians who trained with us and might help.

Let me know if you have additional questions.

Warm regards,”