2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Psychological resilience

Virology

Psychiatry

Complicated grief

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Outbreak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Grief

Psychology

Psychotherapist

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Internal medicine

Distancing

Mental health

Coronavirus Infections

Medicine

Pandemic

Social distance

Stressor

Disease

Disenfranchised grief

Traumatic grief

Pathology

American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

In few periods in human history have bereavement and grief been on so many people's minds as they are today. As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ravages the world, we have seen many perish in a short time. Many have died alone because of requirements for physical distancing. Even more will succumb as COVID-19 continues to spread. Moreover, deaths from other causes, numbering over 50 million annually, are also happening amid physical distancing and other COVID-19-related challenges. The pandemic is affecting the way terminally ill patients are being cared for, when and how people are dying of other causes, and how bodies are being handled and bereavement rituals performed. The bereaved are required to grieve without the support of usual social and cultural rituals. Grieving is further encumbered by cascading life stressors deriving from policies needed to mitigate the pandemic. Though we are often heartened by human resilience in response to death and other hardships, for some, the burden of this pandemic will be too much. Among other mental health problems, we will likely see an increase in prolonged grief disorder. In this commentary, we review the new diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder and outline why we might anticipate increased rates of this condition on the heels of COVID-19, especially among older persons. The authors suggest ways that might mitigate this emerging problem.

Grief and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Older Adults