Predicting prolonged grief disorder: Caregiver prodrome turns bereaved survivor syndrome. Commentary on Thomas et al.

摘要

Many social scientists and historians have come to learn and affirm the following truism: the best predictor of the future is the past. The study of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) proves no exception. Thomas et al. (this issue) sought to determine whether PGD diagnostic criteria or symptom severity assessed before loss in family caregivers of palliative care patients subsequently predicted PGD assessed at six and 13 months after loss when these same caregivers had become bereaved survivors. Analyzing data from caregivers who were uniformly and repeatedly assessed before and after the patient's death, using validated measures of PGD symptomatology, and controlling for potential confounding influences, they found that it does.