Is Complicated Grief a Valid Construct?

Abstract

Important progress has been made in conceptualizing and demonstrating effective interventions for complicated grief (CG). The author argues, however, that the CG construct is still poorly understood, and that there remain several important but unanswered questions about the construct's basic validity. Recent research is reviewed that provides preliminary evidence for the CG's incremental validity over other forms of grief-related psychopathology. However, further evidence of incremental validity is still needed. Several prospective studies are also reviewed that support the discriminant validity of CG in relation to more enduring depressive symptoms. However, most studies of CG have failed to make this distinction and have tended to confound CG with longer-term depressive states. The author argues that future research on CG, including intervention studies, needs to allot greater attention to these validity issues.