From Cara Murez
HealthDay reporter
WEDNESDAY, May 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Feelings of grief are expected after losing a loved one, but having those feelings when your loved one has an terminal illness is also real and can fluctuate over time, experts say.
Individuals can adjust to their emotional pain, according to a new study that focuses on what was seen in people with advanced cancer or dementia in family members at two time points.
“There’s a lot of research on anticipatory grief that involves worrying about the future. But grief before loss is pretty much ignored right now,” said study author Jonathan Singer, an intern in clinical psychology in psychiatry and behavioral health at Ohio State University.
“As medical advances, people will live longer with life-limiting diseases, so there will be an increasing problem with grief before the person dies,” he said in a university press release. “Symptoms of grief before loss can predict long-term negative outcomes after the death of a loved one, so this is a good intervention goal to figure out now.”
continuation
Participants completed questionnaires that rated their symptoms of grief, depression, post-traumatic stress, and care burden. These included 28 people whose relatives suffered from dementia and who answered both the first and the follow-up questionnaires, as well as 33 people whose relatives developed cancer. The first survey was answered by 138 people.
The first questionnaire revealed considerable grief before the loss among the participants. A month later, symptoms of grief before the loss decreased in 69% of participants, although women and those with heavy nursing duties were more likely to experience greater grief.
Family members of patients with dementia were more likely than family members of cancer patients to experience severe grief before the loss, although some people expecting the loss of a loved one to cancer also experienced unexpectedly high levels of grief.
Symptoms were similar no matter how long people had known their loved one had a life-limiting illness.
“The people in this study were very often grieving their loss after many years. That was shocking because you might think it would get easier with time. But with Alzheimer’s disease it can be more difficult, and with cancer it could be be it.” A similar development that starts with hope at the beginning but feels worse over time, “said Singer.
continuation
“What happens to these family members who are still having problems – is it the burden on the caregiver, is it that they have lost their identity, is it that they no longer engage in pleasurable activities? We shall address that next. ” he said.
Grief before loss is not a clinical diagnosis, but persistent grief disorder in people mourning the death of a loved one has been included in the Manual on Mental Disorders Diagnosis and Statistics published earlier this year. Symptoms include preoccupation with thoughts or memories of the lost family member combined with symptoms such as severe emotional pain, a feeling of disbelief, and difficulty getting on with life.
The researchers also found that 10.5% of the family members of dementia patients and 2% of the family members of cancer patients met the criteria for diagnosing a disorder with prolonged grief.
Singer recently conducted a study to provide a better understanding of how preparing for the death of a family member can prevent mental health problems for their survivors. He is now involved in a study of the longer term development of grief before loss.
continuation
The study was recently published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
More information
The American Psychological Association has more information about grief and loss.
SOURCE: Ohio State University, news release, May 10, 2021
Comments are closed.