Prolonged Grief Disorder

Grief reactions are highly individual and therefore difficult to summarize. While many bereaved people suffer greatly, especially in the first few months after a loss, a large number make strides towards accepting the death and integrating this experience of loss into their lives. Some bereaved, however, find it particularly difficult to cope with the loss and find their way back to their normal lives. For several years now, intensive research has been conducted to determine the point at which a normal grief reaction can be described as pathological. The new criteria of the eleventh version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) of the World Health Organization (WHO) provide a frame of reference to answer this question. For the first time, the ICD-11 lists a clinical diagnosis for the syndrome of pathological grief with the new Prolonged Grief Disorder.