Living with loss: a cognitive approach to prolonged grief disorder- incorporating complicated, enduring and traumatic grief (2 credit hours)

Program Summary:  This course explores prolonged grief disorder and highlights existing psychological therapies and models.  The course differentiates between normal and abnormal grief and offers an overview of the DSM-5 diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder, predictors of prolonged grief, and maintenance factors.  The reading highlights therapies, including the cognitive model of PTSD as a framework for treating traumatic grief.  The second reading examines possible maladaptive coping strategies, including avoidance, proximity seeking, and rumination.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

Reading 1:  Living with loss:  a cognitive approach to prolonged grief disorder- incorporating complicated, enduring and traumatic grief Authors: Michael Duffy and Jennifer Wild Publisher: Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy Cambridge University Press

Reading 2:  From loss to disorder:  The influence of maladaptive coping on prolonged grief  Authors:  Kirsten V. Smith, Jennifer Wild, and Anke Ehlers Publisher:  Psychiatry Research

Book Icon Open the Course Reading Here.

Course Objectives:  To enhance professional practice, values, skills and knowledge by examining prolonged grief disorder, existing therapies, and possible maladaptive coping strategies.

Learning Objectives:  Describe the DSM-5 diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder.  Identify predictors of prolonged grief and possible maladaptive coping strategies.  Describe psychological models for treating grief.

Course Available Until: May 31, 2028.

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1: When feelings of grief wane and the bereaved person experiences positive emotions alongside episodes of sadness and loss, their experience is described as
 
 
2: The American Psychiatric Association Assembly approved the formal inclusion of PGD as an update to the
 
 
 
 
3: The DSM-5 requires PGD symptoms to persist for a minimum of __________ months.
 
 
 
 
4: Prigerson et al. (2009) report risk factors and clinical correlates of PGD, including all of the following except:
 
 
 
 
5: High risk predictors for developing complicated grief were __________ (Kersting et al., 2011).
 
 
 
 
 
 
6: In a survey of 678 bereaved people, Aoun and colleagues (2018) reported that professional sources of support had the highest proportions of perceived
 
 
7: "I have changed", or "Other people will regard me differently" are examples of
 
 
 
 
8: Who proposed that people living with a terminal illness had to adjust to the loss via stages of shock, denial, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance?
 
 
 
 
9: Stroebe and Schut's (1999) dual process theory of bereavement proposes that the bereaved
 
 
 
10: A consensus seems to be emerging that psychological therapy is more appropriate only for those who experience _________ severe and enduring grief.
 
 
11: Figure 1 shows a cycle of prolonged grief disorder that keeps a patient's focus on
 
 
 
 
12: Reading 2 Table 2//  "I make an effort to hold back my feelings" describes
 
 
 
 
13: "I am still carrying out a routine as a way of caring for them" describes
 
 
 
 
14: "I go over and over how our last moments could have been more fulfilling" describes
 
 
 
 
15: "I ask myself why I deserved this loss" describes
 
 
 
 

In order to purchase or take this course, you will need to log in. If you do not have an account, you will need to register for a free account.

After you log in, a link will appear here that will allow you to purchase this course.

Review our pre-reading study guide.

G.M. Rydberg-Cox, MSW, LSCSW is the Continuing Education Director at Free State Social Work and responsible for the development of this course.  She received her Masters of Social Work in 1996 from the Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois-Chicago and she has over 20 years of experience.  She has lived and worked as a social worker in Chicago, Boston, and Kansas City.  She has practiced for many years in the area of hospital/medical social work.  The reading materials for this course were developed by another organization.

Course Available Until: May 31, 2028.
Filed under: Clinical