Abstract
BACKGROUND: Prolonged grief disorder (PGD), previously called complicated grief, is associated with significant distress and long-term disability, and it may complicate assessments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic events.
METHODS: In order to distinguish PGD from PTSD, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among tsunami survivors in five tsunami-affected coastal villages in India, 9 months after the Asian tsunami.
RESULTS: Prevalence of PGD among 643 tsunami survivors was 14.2% (95% confidence interval (CI): 11.5%-16.9%) and among the 351 bereaved survivors was 25.9% (95% CI: 21.3%-30.5%). Spousal bereavement, extensive damage to homes, fewer years of education, and absence of tsunami-related physical injury differentiated those with PGD, after adjusting for potential confounders (p < .05). These factors were distinct from the factors associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among these survivors. Scores on the avoidance, hyper-arousal and intrusion subscales of the Impact of Events Scale-Revised were significantly lower in those with PGD alone than in those with PTSS or with both disorders.
CONCLUSION: Our findings support the validity of PGD in a non-Western post-disaster community and its distinctness from PTSD. They have important public health implications in planning responses to natural disasters and for future revisions of diagnostic classifications.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 645-52 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | The International journal of social psychiatry |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2015 |
Keywords
- Adult
- Asian Continental Ancestry Group
- Cross-Sectional Studies
- Disasters
- Female
- Grief
- History, 21st Century
- Humans
- India
- Logistic Models
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
- Risk Factors
- Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
- Survivors
- Tsunamis
- Young Adult
