CBS News Features Complicated Grief and the Work of Dr. Katherine Shear

CBS News–Complicated Grief

Dr. Katherine Shear and a patient were recently featured in a CBS News segment discussing a new intervention for complicated grief.

 

“Grieving the death of a loved one is among the hardest things we ever do. Strong feelings of sadness and loneliness are almost universal, as are other painful feelings, like fear, anxiety guilt, resentment, anger, and shame. Experiencing any and/or all of these emotions is perfectly normal,” says Dr. Katherine Shear the Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry. “However, these feelings usually decrease over time as the person comes to terms with the loss.”

 

For some people, though, grief remains very intense and interferes with functioning. These people may find that they have strong feelings of yearning or longing for the person who died. They may be preoccupied with images or thoughts of this person; they may feel intensely lonely or find themselves ruminating about how or why the person died; they may avoid doing things they used to do, and distance themselves from family and friends. The experience of prolonged intense grief is called complicated grief.

 

For more information about the complicated grief treatment research program, please contact Bevin Campbell, at 212-851-2107 or by email at swcgte@columbia.edu.

 

View the CBS News segment on complicated grief. CBS News—Complicated Grief