Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 May 26:11:489.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00489. eCollection 2020.

Complicated Grief: What to Expect After the Coronavirus Pandemic

Camilla Gesi  1 , Claudia Carmassi  2 , Giancarlo Cerveri  3 , Barbara Carpita  2 , Ivan Mirko Cremone  2 , Liliana Dell'Osso  2
Affiliations
Review

Complicated Grief: What to Expect After the Coronavirus Pandemic

Camilla Gesi et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the worst public health crises in a century, with an expected amount of deaths of several million worldwide and an even bigger number of bereaved people left behind. Although the consequences of this crisis are still unknown, a significant number of bereaved people will arguably develop Complicated Grief (CG) in the aftermath of this emergency. If the current pandemic is unprecedented, the grief following the coronavirus outbreak is likely to share features with grief related to natural disasters and after Intensive Care Unit (ICU) treatment. The aim of this paper is to review the most prominent literature on CG after natural disasters, as well as after diseases requiring ICU treatment. This body of evidence may be useful for helping bereaved people during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and for drawing clinical attention to people at risk for CG.

Keywords: COVID-19; ICU treatment; SARS-CoV-2; bereavement; complicated grief; coronavirus outbreak; natural disaster; pandemic.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. McKibbin WJ, Fernando R. The Global Macroeconomic Impacts of COVID-19: Seven Scenarios. CAMA (2020) 191–43. 10.2139/ssrn.3547729 - DOI
    1. Shear MK. Grief and mourning gone awry: pathway and course of complicated grief. Dialogues Clin Neurosci (2012) 14:119–28. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dell'Osso L, Carmassi C, Corsi C, Pergentini I, Socci C, Maremmani AG, et al. Adult separation anxiety in patients with complicated grief versus healthy control subjects: relationships with lifetime depressive and hypomanic symptoms. Ann Gen Psychiatry (2011) 10:29. 10.1186/1744-859X-10-29 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dell'Osso L, Carmassi C, Musetti M, Socci C, Shear MK, Conversano C, et al. Lifetime mood symptoms and adult separation anxiety in patients with Complicated Grief and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: a preliminary report. Psychiatry Res (2012) 198:436–40. 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.12.020 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carmassi C, Shear MK, Massimetti G, Wall M, Mauro C, Gemignani S, et al. Validation of the Italian version inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG): a study comparing CG patients versus bipolar disorder, PTSD and healthy controls. Compr Psychiatry (2014) 55:1322–29. 10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.03.001 - DOI - PubMed