The pandemic has illuminated the mental health struggles of many over the last nearly two years.
The isolation brought on by shelter-in-place impacted depression, while the ongoing uncertainty related to COVID-19 has increased anxiety, among many other issues.
One such issue, prolonged grief disorder, is a diagnosable mental illness that has been added to the growing list of those brought on by the pandemic. Prolonged grief disorder is when someone grieves for longer than what is typical for the average person.
"The definition is a form of grief that really isn't that different from normal, except that it's prolonged," said Dr. Katherine Shear, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and the founding Director of the Center for Complicated Grief on KCBS Radio's "Ask an Expert" on Tuesday with Dan Mitchinson.
"Longer than the American Psychiatric Association says – at least a year, but longer than the people around you and you think that it should be lasting," she said.
The grief felt in this disorder is intense and pervasive, and includes yearning and longing for the person who died, to a point where it interferes with your life, said Shear.
Other symptoms include a marked sense of disbelief of the death, avoidance of reminders that the person is gone, difficulty moving on with life, emotional numbness, and feeling other types of intense emotions like anger, bitterness, or guilt.
Although grief typically is intense and can interfere with someone's ability to live their life, usually it "tapers off," she said. This form does not.
This form of grief can also lead to suicidal thoughts.
"We really want to do our best as a community to be there for people who are struggling with grief, who've lost someone close," said Shear.
Although research on this disorder began decades ago, the need for a solution has become even more needed in recent months. Right now there isn’t a lot of grief training in mental health programs, and most health care isn't necessarily equipped to care for someone with this diagnosis.
Shear and her team of researchers have been working towards a solution for this disorder, a short-term, couple of months-long "intervention" for people struggling with this.
The goal is to help them progress through their grief, and help them understand the "benefit from the relationship that they had even though it's gone," she said.
Some people can get lost in their grief, for decades. "For some people, that grief will help end their life along with the person who died," said Shear.
For someone struggling with this, the best thing to do is take it seriously, talk with someone, and not blame themselves, she said.
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