@article{ref1,
title="Peritraumatic distress and dissociation in prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress following violent and unexpected deaths",
journal="Journal of trauma and dissociation",
year="2015",
author="Boelen, Paul A.",
volume="16",
number="5",
pages="541-550",
abstract="This study examined associations between the violence of a loss and the suddenness of a loss and symptom-levels of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after the death of a loved-one. A further aim was to investigate if peritraumatic distress (i.e., fear, helplessness, and horror) and peritraumatic dissociation mediate the emotional impact of violent losses and unexpected losses. We obtained self-reported data from 265 individuals, bereaved in the previous three years by losses due to violent causes (17%) or illness (83%). Outcomes showed that participants who experienced violent losses (due to homicide, suicide, or accident) reported more PGD-symptoms and PTSD-symptoms compared to those confronted with illness-loss. In this latter group, greater perceived unexpectedness was positively associated with PGD-severity and PTSD-severity. Multiple mediation analyses showed that the impact of violent loss and unexpectedness of the loss on PGD-severity and PTSD-severity was fully mediated by peritraumatic distress and dissociation; peritraumatic helplessness and peritraumatic dissociation (but not peritraumatic fear and horror) emerged as unique mediators. <br><br>FINDINGS suggest that both violent and unexpected losses exacerbate post-loss psychopathology which is at least partially due to such losses yielding more intense acute helplessness and dissociative responses.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1529-9732",
doi="10.1080/15299732.2015.1027841",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2015.1027841"
}