About this Research Topic

Background

The inclusion of grief disorders, i.e. prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD) in the most recent editions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), respectively, has prompted mental health professionals to diagnose and treat disordered grief. Bereavement is known to be capable of precipitating common mental disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, to many clinicians, the concept of a grief disorder is new and therefore unfamiliar.

This Research Topic aims to contribute towards filling the knowledge gap surrounding disordered grief by focusing on three aspects:
- Clinical aspects include risk factors for, and diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of grief disorders. A specific focus is on mental disorders following bereavement due to violent causes of the death, so-called traumatic grief.
- Cultural aspects include death and mourning rituals, anthropological, religious, and spiritual aspects as well as multiculturalism and globalization.
- Biological aspects include preclinical and clinical studies of neurobiological and immunological correlates of grief disorders in humans.

We are calling for papers examining any of these aspects of grief disorders and associated mental disorders. Accordingly, we welcome original studies, review or theoretical papers on epidemiology, neurobiology, diagnosis, and treatment of grief disorders and traumatic grief.

Keywords: grief disorders, traumatic grief, culture, neurobiology, diagnosis, treatment

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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