Prolonged Grief disorder therapy

Grief is a natural response to loss, and takes complex forms for each individual.  While grief is not an experience that we move through and "get over", it is a process that can result in a capacity to integrate death and loss into life in an adaptive way.  

Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is a diagnosis that describes a situation in which the acute phases of grieving become "stuck" and individuals loop and spiral in a manner that is repetitive and continuous, such that a death or loss can feel almost identical to the early days after its occurrence even years later.  The Center for Prolonged Grief at Columbia University has an excellent website describing this process, and I refer readers there: https://prolongedgrief.columbia.edu/for-the-public/complicated-grief-public/overview/ 

Researchers at Columbia University have developed a 16-session treatment modality to move through Prolonged Grief and into what they term Integrated Grief, in which the loss becomes part of the fabric of a meaningful life, albeit one always weighted with the grief experience.  I have undergone training in this modality, which is called Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (PGDT) and encourage individuals to consider it if they believe they may meet criteria for PGD.  

It is common that individuals who have suffered a grievous loss believe it is a betrayal of their commitment and love for the person they lost to seek therapy for the pain the death has caused.  A meaningful aspect of PGDT is that nearly 80% of individuals who have completed it will report that they now feel more capable of honoring their lost loved one than they did while they were trapped in the cycle of PGD.