Synthesising existing research on complicated grief in intellectual disability: findings from a systematic review.
D O'Riordan, G Boland, S Guerin and 1 others
PMID 36042575WHAT IT FOUND
Complicated grief affects one-third of bereaved adults with intellectual disability.
Symptoms often start late and separation distress dominates. Carers underestimate this pain. Self-report scales detect more symptoms than proxy reports. No evidence-based treatments exist yet.
Key findings
01One-third of bereaved people with ID showed 10 or more clinically apparent symptoms of complicated grief, often with delayed onset and prolonged duration.
02Separation distress symptoms, such as intense longing and inability to think of anything else, occur more frequently than traumatic grief symptoms in this population.
03People with ID using self-report scales reported higher levels of complicated grief symptoms than those identified by carers using proxy reports.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Most included studies were case reports, opinion pieces or small qualitative work, not large empirical trials. There is no clear definition of what constitutes normal versus complicated grief in people with ID. Many risk factors identified are theoretical and not experimentally proven. There are no evidence-based treatments for complicated grief in this population yet. The review included papers with varying levels of intellectual disability, which may affect how results apply to specific individuals.
Declared interests
No external funding was received for the research. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a lack of visible distress means a person with ID is not grieving. Symptoms can be delayed and masked, and carers frequently underestimate the severity. Also, do not implement specific therapeutic interventions expecting proven results, as the review found no evidence-based treatments for this population.