Prolonged grief symptoms and lingering attachment predict approach behavior toward the deceased

Abstract

Following the death of a loved one, both approach behaviors related to the deceased (i.e., engagement with feelings, memories, and/or reminders of the deceased) and the avoidance of reminders of the death are theorized to precipitate severe and persistent grief reactions, termed prolonged grief. The “approach-avoidance processing hypothesis” holds that these behavioral tendencies occur simultaneously in prolonged grief disorder (PGD). We tested this hypothesis using a novel free-viewing attention task. Bereaved adults (N = 72, 81.9% female) completed a survey assessing prolonged grief symptoms, depressive symptoms, and lingering attachment and a free-viewing task assessing voluntary attention toward pictures of the deceased and combinations of the deceased with loss-related words (i.e., loss-reality reminders). A main finding was that participants with higher prolonged grief symptom levels, ρ(70) =.32, p =.006, and more lingering attachment, ρ(70) =.26, p =.030, showed stronger attentional focus toward pictures of the deceased. No significant association emerged between either prolonged grief symptom levels or lingering attachment and attention toward loss-reality reminders. The findings suggest that higher prolonged grief symptom levels may be characterized by persisting approach tendencies toward the deceased. Countering excessive proximity-seeking to the deceased in therapy could be beneficial for bereaved adults who show severe and persistent grief reactions.