title: Facets of pejorative self-processing in complicated grief.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Complicated grief (CG) has been proposed as a psychiatric response to bereavement distinct from established mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses. Little is known about the nature of cognitive-affective processing in CG, nor any similarities or differences compared with the processing profiles associated with other emotional disorders. Three studies therefore investigated 3 broad facets of negative self-processing associated with either elevated symptoms of, or diagnosis of, CG--namely, self-related attributions or blame, self-devaluation, and cognitions about the future self.
  
  
  METHODS
  These self-processing domains were assessed using a variety of self-report and scenario-based measures either linked specifically to the bereavement or more general in their focus. Study 1 used a correlational design in a community bereaved sample. Study 2 employed an extreme-groups approach looking at individuals high versus low in CG symptoms, and Study 3 compared those with a CG diagnosis to healthy bereaved controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data revealed a profile of processing in CG characterized by significant relationships between CG symptoms or diagnosis and both self-devaluation and negative self-related cognitions about the future, but the data provided no support for a similar relationship with negative self-related attributions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings extend our understanding of self-related cognitive processing in CG. They also suggest that CG is characterized by a cognitive-affective processing profile that is distinct from that associated with other disorders, notably major depression, in the literature. This has potential implications for the psychological treatment of CG and for its nosological status as a post-loss syndrome distinct from depression.
authors.affiliation: Emotion Research Group, Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, United Kingdom. ann-marie.golden@mrccbu.cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ann-Marie J
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dalgleish
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001601:Bereavement; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology