Risk factors of severe prolonged grief disorder among individuals experiencing late-life bereavement in Japan: A qualitative study

Abstract

This article explored how severe prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is associated with psychological and social variables using an interpretative phenomenological analysis. From a sample of 225 Japanese hospitalized adults with depression, seven participants were identified as having PGD based on their medical records and semi-structured interviews. Risk factors appeared to be psychological factors associated with the deceased (dependence on the deceased, feeling sorry for the deceased, intense self-blame, and infrequent expression of anger) and environmental factors (loneliness and isolation, lack of opportunity to determine separation, and release from practical burdens). These findings are discussed in relation to Japanese culture.

Acknowledgments

I thank the participating individuals and their families, and Drs. Satoshi Kato, Shiro Suda, Toshiyuki Kobayashi, Katsutoshi Shioda, Shinnosuke Saito, Manabu Yasuda, Kazuhito Fukuda, Takashi Okada for their advice, Mss. Yuka Nagayoshi and Hiromi Kaneko for their technical assistance, and Ken-ichiro Shimizu and Mana Shimizu for their support.

Disclosure statement

The author declares that there are no competing interests, no financial support and no relationship that may pose conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Uehiro Ethic Foundation on Ethics and Education under Grant number [B-073].