TY - JOUR
T1 - Grief
T2 - A brief history of research on how body, mind, and brain adapt
AU - O’Connor, Mary Frances
N1 - Funding Information:
Source of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: Studies by the author cited in this article were supported by the National Institute of Aging (K01 AG028404), the DANA Foundation, UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (NIMH T32-MH19925), and the California Breast Cancer Research Program (10IB-0048). The author reports no conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the American Psychosomatic Society.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Objective: Using an integrative view of psychology, neuroscience, immunology, and psychophysiology, the present review of literature curates the findings that have had an impact on the field of bereavement research and shaped its development. Methods: Beginning with pivotal systematic descriptions of medical and psychological responses to the death of a loved one by Lindemann in the mid-1940s, this selective review integrates findings in bereavement research from studies that investigate medical outcomes after loss, their psychological predictors, and biopsychosocial mechanisms. Results: Morbidity and mortality after the death of a loved one have long been a topic of research. Early researchers characterized somatic and psychological symptoms and studied immune cell changes in bereaved samples. More recent research has repeatedly demonstrated increased rates of morbidity and mortality in bereaved samples, as compared with married controls, in large epidemiological studies. Recent developments also include the development of criteria for prolonged grief disorder (also termed complicated grief). Newer methods, including neuroimaging, have observed that the greatest impact of the death of a loved one is in those who have the most severe psychological grief reactions. Research addressing the mechanisms tying bereavement to medical outcomes is relatively scarce, but differences in rumination, in inflammation, and in cortisol dysregulation between those who adapt well and those who do not have been offered with some evidence. Conclusions: Recommendations to propel the field forward include longitudinal studies to understand differences between acute reactions and later adaptation, comparing samples with grief disorders from those with more typical responses, and integrating responses in brain, mind, and body.
AB - Objective: Using an integrative view of psychology, neuroscience, immunology, and psychophysiology, the present review of literature curates the findings that have had an impact on the field of bereavement research and shaped its development. Methods: Beginning with pivotal systematic descriptions of medical and psychological responses to the death of a loved one by Lindemann in the mid-1940s, this selective review integrates findings in bereavement research from studies that investigate medical outcomes after loss, their psychological predictors, and biopsychosocial mechanisms. Results: Morbidity and mortality after the death of a loved one have long been a topic of research. Early researchers characterized somatic and psychological symptoms and studied immune cell changes in bereaved samples. More recent research has repeatedly demonstrated increased rates of morbidity and mortality in bereaved samples, as compared with married controls, in large epidemiological studies. Recent developments also include the development of criteria for prolonged grief disorder (also termed complicated grief). Newer methods, including neuroimaging, have observed that the greatest impact of the death of a loved one is in those who have the most severe psychological grief reactions. Research addressing the mechanisms tying bereavement to medical outcomes is relatively scarce, but differences in rumination, in inflammation, and in cortisol dysregulation between those who adapt well and those who do not have been offered with some evidence. Conclusions: Recommendations to propel the field forward include longitudinal studies to understand differences between acute reactions and later adaptation, comparing samples with grief disorders from those with more typical responses, and integrating responses in brain, mind, and body.
KW - Bereavement
KW - Default mode
KW - Grief
KW - Morbidity
KW - Prolonged grief disorder
KW - Widow
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073083265&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000717
DO - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000717
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31180982
AN - SCOPUS:85073083265
SN - 0033-3174
VL - 81
SP - 731
EP - 738
JO - Psychosomatic medicine
JF - Psychosomatic medicine
IS - 8
ER -