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Complicated grief is unusually severe and prolonged, and it impairs function in important domains.

Characteristic symptoms include intense yearning, longing, or emotional pain, frequent preoccupying thoughts and memories of the deceased person, a feeling of disbelief or an inability to accept the loss, and difficulty imagining a meaningful future without the deceased person.

Complicated grief affects about 2 to 3% of the population worldwide and is more likely after the loss of a child or a life partner and after a sudden death by violent means.

Randomized, controlled trials provide support for the efficacy of a targeted psychotherapy for complicated grief that provides an explanation of this condition, along with strategies for accepting the loss and for restoring a sense of the possibility of future happiness.

Other treatments include other forms of psychotherapy as well as …