Guided Mourning for Morbid Grief: A Controlled Study

Abstract

SummaryDuring 2 weeks on a waiting list 12 patients with morbid grief did not improve significantly. They were then randomly allocated either to guided mourning treatment, in which they were encouraged to face cues concerning their bereavement or to control treatment in which they were asked to avoid such cues. Each treatment comprised six 1½ hour sessions over 2 weeks. At week 4 guided mourning patients had improved significantly more than had controls on 3 measures, with a supportive trend on 4 measures. Improvement though modest was maintained to 10–28 weeks follow-up. Control patients did not improve significantly or show any trend to do so.