A Randomized Open Trial Assessing the Feasibility of Behavioral Activation for Pathological Grief Responding

Abstract This study investigated the feasibility of using behavioral activation to treat enduring postbereavement mental health difficulties using a two-arm, multiple baseline design comparing an immediate start group to a delayed start group at baseline, 12-, 24-, and 36-weeks postrandomization. Pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavior therapy 2013-12, Vol.44 (4), p.639-650
Main Authors: Papa, Anthony, Sewell, M. Todd, Garrison-Diehn, Christina, Rummel, Clair
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
behavior therapy
Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy
bereavement
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical trials
Cognitive behaviour therapy
Cognitive Therapy - methods
complicated grief
Delayed
Depression
Depression - psychology
Depression - therapy
Feasibility
Feasibility Studies
Female
Grief
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Medical sciences
Mental depression
Mental health care
Middle Aged
Pathological grief
Post traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy
Symptoms
Time Factors
Traumatic grief
Treatment Outcome
Treatments
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Summary:Abstract This study investigated the feasibility of using behavioral activation to treat enduring postbereavement mental health difficulties using a two-arm, multiple baseline design comparing an immediate start group to a delayed start group at baseline, 12-, 24-, and 36-weeks postrandomization. Participants received 12–14 sessions of behavioral activation within a 12-week intervention period starting immediately after the first assessment or after 12 weeks for the delayed start group. Prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, and depression symptoms were assessed as outcomes. Compared with no treatment, behavioral activation was associated with large reductions in prolonged, complicated, or traumatic grief; posttraumatic stress disorder; and depression symptoms in the intent-to-treat analyses. Seventy percent of the completer sample at posttreatment and 75 percent at follow-up responded to treatment with 45 percent at posttreatment and 40 percent at follow-up being classified as evidencing high-end state functioning at 12-week follow-up.
ISSN:0005-7894
1878-1888
DOI:10.1016/j.beth.2013.04.009