Citation

Kokou-Kpolou CK, Fernández-Alcántara M, Cénat JM. Psychol. Trauma 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/tra0000798

PMID

32525367

Abstract

The circumstances of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related deaths embed multiple traumatic characteristics, alongside several external factors that can disenfranchise individual grief. In this context, severe forms of traumatic distress, guilt, somatization, regret, anger, and unspecific symptoms not yet included in prolonged grief disorder (PGD) criteria could emerge. This article (a) analyzes factors related to bereavement in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) proposes avenues for meaning-making practices to facilitate individual and collective mourning process; and (c) invites clinicians to pay attention to the traumatic characteristics of COVID-19-related deaths adopting a holistic approach of PGD clinical manifestations, as well as in evaluation and treatment of cases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Language: en