This project represents the second phase of a larger research agenda to investigate the development of Prolonged Grief (PG) pathology with an eye toward informing new directions in assessment and clinical intervention. Typically close to 50% of bereaved individuals experience acute grief symptoms in the early months after a loss. Many eventually recover, but a significant subset (10%-15% of all bereaved individuals) continued to suffer from PG reactions that compromise their ability to function for several years and often longer. Extending the previous phase of the research, which was limited to a cross-sectional design, the primary objective of the current project includes a longitudinal design, multiple methods for identifying PG (diagnoses, latent growth mixture modeling), measures of early predictors of the development of PG pathology, and biomarkers (EMG, ERP) of PG-related deficits. The project will assess conjugally bereaved individuals at 4, 14, and 25 months post-loss using structured clinical interviews and a set of experimental and interview tasks. The primary aims are (1) to map diagnoses and longitudinal patterns of PG versus recovery, (2) to assess early deficits in emotion and emotion-related brain activity as predictors of the development of later PG, and (3) to assess emotion regulation and emotion-related brain activity later in bereavement as markers of PG-related deficits. One set of hypotheses predicts that bereaved people with acute grief at 4 months will develop PG at later assessments if they (a) fail to evidence context sensitive emotional responding (e.g., negative emotion in negative topics);(b) generate overall less positive emotion;and (c) exhibit reduced flexibility in modulating both affective experience and emotional expression. A second set of hypotheses predicts that bereaved individuals with PG at 18 months will (a) experience less comfort from representation of the deceased (measured by self-report and facial EMG) and (b) show greater attention toward open-mouth sad faces when primed with spouse-associate words;and (c) express greater nonverbal sadness and less nonverbal positive emotion when describing intimacy with the deceased.

Public Health Relevance

The proposed project seeks to identify potentially treatable deficits that both predict and accompany the onset of grief-related pathology. The results of this project will be useful in guiding the development of new intervention strategies for grief.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH091034-04
Application #
8664926
Study Section
Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes Study Section (SPIP)
Program Officer
Muehrer, Peter R
Project Start
2011-07-15
Project End
2016-04-30
Budget Start
2014-05-01
Budget End
2015-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$545,497
Indirect Cost
$178,781
Name
Columbia University Teachers College
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Education
DUNS #
071050983
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10027
Maccallum, Fiona; Malgaroli, Matteo; Bonanno, George A (2017) Networks of loss: Relationships among symptoms of prolonged grief following spousal and parental loss. J Abnorm Psychol 126:652-662
Malgaroli, Matteo; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R; Bonanno, George A (2017) Heterogeneity in Trajectories of Depression in Response to Divorce is Associated with Differential Risk for Mortality. Clin Psychol Sci 5:843-850
Maccallum, Fiona; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R; Bonanno, George A (2015) Trajectories of depression following spousal and child bereavement: A comparison of the heterogeneity in outcomes. J Psychiatr Res 69:72-9
Diminich, Erica D; Bonanno, George A (2014) Faces, feelings, words: divergence across channels of emotional responding in complicated grief. J Abnorm Psychol 123:350-61
Zhu, Zhuoying; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R; Bonanno, George A (2014) Heterogeneous depression responses to chronic pain onset among middle-aged adults: a prospective study. Psychiatry Res 217:60-6
Bonanno, George A (2013) Meaning making, adversity, and regulatory flexibility. Memory 21:150-6
Bonanno, George A; Diminich, Erica D (2013) Annual Research Review: Positive adjustment to adversity--trajectories of minimal-impact resilience and emergent resilience. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 54:378-401