Bereavement behind bars: Grief support groups with and without therapy dogs for incarcerated females

Grief is a universal experience; however not everyone experiences grief and loss in the same way. People who are incarcerated are often informed of losses via phone, are unable to attend funeral services or participate in supportive rituals, and can have difficulty expressing feelings in a place where showing emotion can be dangerous. Being unable to obtain support and process grief and loss may contribute to impaired functioning. In this study of bereavement support for women in prison, incarcerated women with recent or unresolved losses (n=32) were randomly assigned to grief support groups with therapy dogs (animal-assisted, AA) or without therapy dogs (non-AA). Pre- and post-test measures of bereavement symptoms and prolonged grief disorder (PGD) were obtained. This study shows that AA groups had more significant decreases in symptoms, lower rates of post-group diagnostic criteria for PGD and higher rates of perceived support/benefit from the groups.

Psychosocial Aspects of Gestational Grief in Women Undergoing Infertility Treatment: A Systematic Review of Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence

Women undergoing assisted reproduction treatment without being able to become pregnant, and experiencing pregnancy loss after assisted reproduction, are triggering factors for prolonged grief and mourning. This review aims to investigate the psychosocial aspects of gestational grief among women who have undergone infertility treatment. We searched the databases of MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Lilacs for works published up to 5 March 2021. The outcomes analyzed were negative and positive psychosocial responses to gestational grief among women suffering from infertility and undergoing assisted human reproduction treatment. Eleven studies were included, which yielded 316 women experiencing infertility who were undergoing treatment. The most frequently reported negative psychosocial manifestations of grief response were depression (6/11, 54.5%), despair or loss of hope/guilt/anger (5/11, 45.5%), anxiety (4/11, 36.4%), frustration (3/11, 27.3%), and anguish/shock/suicidal thoughts/isolation (2/11, 18.2%). Positive psychosocial manifestations included the hope of becoming pregnant (4/6, 66.6%) and acceptance of infertility after attempting infertility treatment (2/6, 33.3%). We identified several negative and positive psychosocial responses to gestational grief in women experiencing infertility. Psychological support before, during, and after assisted human reproduction treatment is crucial for the management of psychosocial aspects that characterize the grief process of women experiencing infertility who become pregnant and who lose their pregnancy. Our results may help raise awareness of the area of grief among infertile women and promote policy development for the mental health of bereaved women.

Learn to Live Again

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 4.5 million lives so far throughout the world. These sudden, unnatural, and unexpected deaths have led to complicated grief reactions as families did not get time to prepare for death. I describe the experience of my family in India during the disastrous second wave of the pandemic. The experience of many such families of COVID-19 casualties is like a horror story that will continue to scare them each day of their life. These families have already suffered a serious and long-lasting harm and are at greater risk of suffering from prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, emotional distress, adult separation disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder for a long period of time. Creating support groups, empowering primary-care physicians to help and counsel their patients, providing them access to cognitive behavioral therapy, help with opening up and venting out some of their feelings, and training to develop resilience are some of the measures to help our grieving patients.

Mobile app for prolonged grief among bereaved parents: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

IntroductionBereaved parents, who have lost a child, have an elevated risk to develop mental health problems, yet, few studies have evaluated the effect of psychosocial interventions developed for bereaved parents. Cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT), both face to face or digitally delivered, has shown to be an effective intervention for prolonged grief symptoms. Self-help mobile apps offer various advantages and studies show improved mental health after app interventions. No app has yet been evaluated targeting prolonged grief in bereaved parents. Therefore, the aim of this planned study is to develop and examine the effectiveness of a CBT-based mobile app, called My Grief, in reducing symptoms of prolonged grief, as well as other psychological symptoms, in bereaved parents. Another aim is to assess users’ experiences and adverse events of My Grief.Methods and analysisWe will conduct a two-armed randomised waitlist-controlled trial. Parents living in Sweden, who lost a child between one and ten years ago, with elevated symptoms of prolonged grief, will be recruited to participate in the trial. The content of My Grief covers four main domains (Learn; Self-monitoring; Exercises; Get support) and builds on principles of CBT and the proven-effective PTSD Coach app. Participants in the intervention group will fill out online questionnaires at baseline and at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-ups, and the waitlist-controls at baseline and at 3 months. The primary outcome will be prolonged grief symptoms at the 3 months follow-up. Secondary outcomes are post-traumatic stress and depression symptoms, quality of life and cognitive behavioural variables (ie, avoidance, rumination, negative cognitions).Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been received from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (project no. 2021-00770). If the app is shown to be effective, the app will be made publicly accessible on app stores, so that it can benefit other bereaved parents.Trial registration numberNCT04552717.

The Psychology of Pandemics

This article reviews the current state of knowledge and promising new directions concerning the psychology of pandemics. Pandemics are disease outbreaks that spread globally. Historically, psychological factors have been neglected by researchers and health authorities despite evidence that pandemics are, to a large extent, psychological phenomena whereby beliefs and behaviors influence the spreading versus containment of infection. Psychological factors are important in determining ( a) adherence to pandemic mitigation methods (e.g., adherence to social distancing), ( b) pandemic-related social disruption (e.g., panic buying, racism, antilockdown protests), and ( c) pandemic-related distress and related problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, prolonged grief disorder). The psychology of pandemics has emerged as an important field of research and practice during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As a scholarly discipline, the psychology of pandemics is fragmented and diverse, encompassing various psychological subspecialties and allied disciplines, but is vital for shaping clinical practice and public health guidelines for COVID-19 and future pandemics. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Volume 18 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.