What you need to know

• When confronted with the death of a loved one, most people experience transient rather than persistent distress, and do not develop a mental health condition.

• Bereavement, specifically the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one is associated with an elevated risk for multiple psychiatric disorders.

• Consider prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in people with ongoing separation distress beyond the first six to 12 months of bereavement.

Relationships between the corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1) [rs878886] and serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), with resilience and satisfaction with life were examined in 172 adolescents; 70 refugee adolescents living in the Netherlands and 102 non-refugee (Dutch) adolescents. Genetic variation in the CRHR1 was related with self-reported resilience and satisfaction with life, while the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism was not.

Abstract: There is evidence that both the centrality of a loss-event as well as reduced self-concept clarity are involved in emotional problems after the death of a loved one. One issue that is still unexplored is the relative importance of these two concepts in predicting bereavement outcome. The current study examined the degree to which both concepts contribute to emotional distress after loss, both concurrently and longitudinally.

Negative thinking is seen as an important mediating factor in the development of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), a syndrome encompassing debilitating symptoms of grief. No measure of specific grief related cognitions is available yet. Based on an adult measure of negative thinking in adults we developed a questionnaire for children, the Grief Cognitions Questionnaire for Children (GCQ-C).