A case report to understand the use of an evidence-based approach of prolonged grief therapy in Chinese culture

Abstract

Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is a new diagnosis that may cause significant functional impairment. Prolonged grief therapy (PGT) is a manualized 16-session intervention, whose efficacy has been demonstrated in studies primarily from Western cultures. The current report aimed to present a case to illustrate the use of PGT in Chinese culture. The client was a bereaved adult suffering from PGD after the death of her mother ten years ago. Additionally, she lost her father three months ago. Questionnaires were completed before and after treatment. In-depth interview was conducted at a 3-month follow-up. The client’s scores for grief, functional impairment, grief-related beliefs and avoidance, depression and insomnia all decreased substantially after treatment. The follow-up feedbacks indicated that the beneficial effects of PGT persisted in the client’s life. This case report provides preliminary evidence that bereaved people in China could benefit greatly from PGT, with minimal cultural adaptation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data are not publicly available due to protection of personal information.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant 23SHC011, Philosophy and Social Science Research Fund for Universities of Jiangsu Province under Grant 2023SJYB1400. The funding agency had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation, or manuscript preparation or submission.