Senior Resources 2024 Health Care Guide

G

B EREAvEMENT AND G RIEF IN O LDER A DULTS enced by a minority of grievers and is characterized by persistence – often for years – of acute grief symptoms, including intense yearning or longing for and/or preoccupation with thoughts and memories of the deceased person, along with other symptoms such as identity disruption, a marked sense of disbelief, avoidance of reminders of the loss, and as a result of death, intense emotional

rief is a natural response experienced after a loss, usually the death of a loved one. Individual experiences of grief vary over time and are influenced, among others, by the nature of the loss, as well as cul tural and religious rituals. Acute grief occurs in the early peri od -- generally considered as the first 6 months -- after bereavement, and usually dominates the bereaved per son’s life during this period. In acute grief, strong feelings of yearning, longing and sorrow, insistent thoughts and memories of the per son who died, emotional pain (including anxiety, anger, remorse, and/or guilt), and loneliness are common. accepting the finality and conse quences of the death, revising the internalized relationship with the deceased, re-envisioning the future such that there is a possibility for happiness in a world without the deceased, and the capacity for joy and satisfaction is restored in ongo ing life. When mourning is success ful, the painful and disruptive expe rience of acute grief is transformed into a form of grief termed integrated grief. Most acute grievers recover their pre-loss functioning and transi tion to integrated grief usually with in a year. Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is a treatable clinical condition that is per sistent and pervasive and interferes with functioning. PGD is experi Mourning is a learning process of adapting to a loss. Adaptation entails

pain, difficulty engaging in ongoing life, emotional numbness, feeling life is meaningless, and/or intense loneli ness. PGD puts the grieving individ ual at risk for intense distress, poor physical health and quality of life, cognitive decline, shortened life expectancy, and suicide. Despite this problem's magnitude, we cannot distinguish those with acute grief who successfully transition to integrated grief from those prone to develop PGD. It is unclear who with acute grief warrants early interven tion, what interventions are most effective, and when to initiate an intervention.

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2024