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PITTSBURGH, May 31, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- U.S. researchers have developed a specialized treatment for complicated grief, which affects up to 20 percent of people who lose a loved one.
A University of Pittsburgh study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, reported more than a million people a year develop a chronic, debilitating condition that goes beyond normal grief-related symptoms but still is different from clinical depression.
Interpersonal psychotherapy treatment -- focusing on bereavement-related depression -- works well for regular grief patients but the researchers refined the method to a two-pronged approach for complicated grief patients, focusing on both the loss and on rebuilding their own lives.
The study found after three years of assessment, 51 percent of complicated grief patients showed significant improvement using the new treatment approach, compared to 28 percent who improved using the standard interpersonal psychotherapy treatment.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
