COMPLICATED GRIEF THROUGH THE LENS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL, HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL, AND PSYCHOANALYTIC TRADITIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/3041-2005/2026-1.32Keywords:
complicated grief, prolonged grief disorder, cognitive-behavioral therapy, humanistic-existential therapy, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapyAbstract
This article presents a theoretical review of the phenomenon of complicated/prolonged grief, with a comparative analysis of cognitive-behavioral, humanistic-existential, and psychoanalytic traditions. Grief associated with specific types of loss is examined. In cases of traumatic loss, the main clinical challenge is differentiation from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where the key distinguishing features include a focus on the traumatic event itself, avoidance of memories related to the circumstances of death, and the predominantly sensory nature of intrusions in PTSD. In ambiguous loss, the central problematic aspects include the lack of experiential closure, pronounced ambivalence, and oscillations between hope and despair. Linear stage-based models of grief, such as those proposed by Kübler-Ross, Parkes – Bowlby, and Horowitz, are reviewed along with their principal limitations. The article outlines a contemporary view of grief as a unique, non-linear, multidimensional process of acceptance and integration of loss, which critically depends on cultural context, individual personality characteristics, the nature of the relationship with the deceased, and the circumstances of death. Theoretical models of the grief process are grouped into three clusters: cognitivebehavioral, humanistic-existential, and psychoanalytic. Key theoretical aspects of cognitive-behavioral models include insufficient integration of the loss into existing autobiographical knowledge, negative beliefs and maladaptive interpretations, as well as anxious and depressive avoidance. Humanistic-existential models emphasize disruptions in meaning-making, identity, and existential integration of loss. Psychoanalytic models focus on disturbances in the integration of the lost object, ambivalence within the love – aggression dynamic, fixation of identification with the lost object, impairments in symbolization, and fixation of libidinal investment on the lost object.
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