A twenty-year bibliometric analysis on the relationship between complicated grief and attachment

Abstract

Attachment theory is a key paradigm for understanding individual differences for the elaboration of the grieving processes, however limited attempts to systematically synthesize are found on the literature. Our aim is to conduct a bibliometric analysis about the relationship between complicated grief and attachment over the past twenty years. A bibliographic search was made in the Core Collection of Web of Science, the bibliometric analysis was performed using the software Hiscite version 2010.12.6, and VosViewer were used for the construction of bibliometric maps. Results show 276 publications from 2003 until 2023 from 789 authors, published in 143 scientific journals. The field presents a regular increase and sustained number of publications. The topics most researched were bereavement, complicated grief and attachment, and since 2018 has been increased interest in prolonged grief disorder. In conclusion, this bibliometric analysis contributes to the understanding of the current state of this topic and its evolution, being relevant to consider attachment style in bereavement interventions.