Complicated Grief—Scientific Foundations for Health Care Professionals

How can complicated grief be defined? How does it differ from normal patterns of grief and grieving? Who among the bereaved is particularly at risk? Can clinical intervention reduce complications?
Complicated Grief provides a balanced, up-to-date, state-of-the-art account of the scientific foundations surrounding the topic of complicated grief. In this book, Margaret Stroebe,Henk Schut and Jan van den Bout address the basic questions about the concept, manifestations and phenomena associated with complicated grief. They bring together researchers from different disciplines, providing a broad range of cultural and societal perspectives, to enable the reader to access the scientific knowledge base regarding complicated grief, on both theoretical and empirical levels.
The book is divided into four main sections:

An exploration of the nature of complicated grief
Diagnostic categorizations
Contemporary research on complicated grief
Treament of complicated grief
Illuminating the foundations and new innovations in research, Complicated Grief will be essential reading for professionals working with bereavement such as clinical psychologists, health psychologists and psychiatrists, researchers, as well as graduate students of psychology and psychiatry.
Margaret Stroebe is Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen,The Netherlands.
Henk Schut is Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Jan van den Bout is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Contributors:Paul Boelen, Kathrin Boerner, George Bonanno, Laurie Burke, Rachel Cooper, Atle Dyregrov, Kari Dyregrov, Francesca Del Gaudio, Ann-Marie Golden, Jennifer Jacobs, David Kissane, Rolf Kleber, Yeulin Li, Jeffrey Looi, Anthony Mancini, Mario Mikulincer, Michelle Moulds, Robert Neimeyer, Mary-Frances O'Connor, John Ogrodniczuk, William Piper, Holly G. Prigerson, Therese Rando, Beverley Raphael, Paul C. Rosenblatt, Edward Rynearson, Henk A.W. Schut, Phillip Shaver, Margaret S. Stroebe, Jan van den Bout, Marcel van den Hout, Birgit Wagner, Jerome C. Wakefield, Edward Watkins, Talia I. Zaider.

Margaret Stroebe is Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Henk Schut is Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Jan van den Bout is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Preface. Part I: Introduction. Stroebe, Schut, & van den Bout, Outline and Scope of the Book. Part II. The Nature of Complicated Grief: Conceptual Approaches. Cooper, Complicated Grief: Philosophical Perspectives. Rosenblatt, The Concept of Complicated Grief: Lessons From Other Cultures. Rando, On Achieving Clarity Regarding Complicated Grief: Lessons from Clinical Practice. Boerner, Mancini & Bonanno, On the Nature and Prevalence of Uncomplicated and Complicated Patterns of Grief. A. Dyregrov & K. Dyregrov, Complicated Grief in Children. Part III. Diagnostic Categorization: Scientific, Clinical & Societal Implications. Boelen & Prigerson, Prolonged Grief Disorder as a New Psychiatric Category in DSM-5. Wakefield, Is Complicated/Prolonged Grief a Disorder? Why the Proposal to Add a Category of Complicated Grief Disorder to the DSM-5 is Conceptually and Empirically Unsound. van den Bout & Kleber, Lessons from PTSD for Complicated Grief as a new Psychiatric Condition. Raphael, Jacobs & Looi, Complicated Grief in the Context of Other Disorders: PTSD. Part IV. Contemporary Research on Risk Factors, Processes, & Mechanisms. Burke & Neimeyer, Prospective Risk Factors for Complicated Grief: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Watkins & Moulds, Repetitive Thought: Rumination in Complicated Grief. Golden, Autobiographical Memory Processes in Complicated Grief. Mikulincer & Shaver, Attachment Insecurities and Disordered Patterns of Grief. O’Connor, Physiological Mechanisms and the Neurobiology of Complicated Grief. Part V. Treatment of Complicated Grief: Principles, Paradigms and Procedures. Boelen, van den Hout & van den Bout, Prolonged Grief Disorder: Cognitive Behavioral Theory and Therapy. Wagner, Internet-Based Bereavement Interventions and Support: An Overview. Kissane, Zaider, Li & Del Gaudio Family Therapy for Complicated Grief. Piper & Ogrodniczuk, Brief Group Therapies for Complicated Grief: Interpretative and Supportive Approaches. Rynearson, Schut & Stroebe, Complicated Grief After Violent Death: Identification and Intervention. Part VI. Conclusions. Stroebe, Schut & van den Bout, Complicated Grief: Assessment of Scientific Knowledge & Implications for Research and Practice.