Integrative CBT for Prolonged Grief Beats Present-Centered Therapy

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 27, 2024 (HealthDay News) — For patients with prolonged grief disorder (PGD), integrative cognitive behavioral therapy for prolonged grief (PG-CBT) is superior to present-centered therapy (PCT) after treatment, according to a study published online Nov. 13 in JAMA Psychiatry to coincide with the European Grief Conference, held from Nov. 11 to 13 in Dublin.

Rita Rosner, Ph.D., from the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany, and colleagues examined whether PG-CBT is superior to PCT in a rater-blinded, multicenter, randomized clinical trial. Participants were aged 18 to 75 years and had PGD; they were randomly assigned to receive PG-CBT and PCT in a 1:1 ratio (106 to each condition).

The researchers found that at follow-up, both treatments yielded high reductions in PGD severity in the intention-to-treat analysis (Cohen d = 1.64 and 1.38 for PG-CBT and PCT, respectively). After treatment, significantly greater reductions in PGD severity were seen for those receiving PG-CBT versus PCT (Cohen d = 0.31). This effect was only visible on a trend level at follow-up 12 months after randomization; however, significantly less depressive and psychopathological symptoms were seen for participants in the PG-CBT group. Twenty and 16 percent of participants discontinued PG-CBT and PCT, respectively.

“PG-CBT was an efficient treatment and has great potential for widespread dissemination,” the authors write. “PCT could be of interest to patients who do not wish to focus on the loss and could thus contribute to increasing patient choice.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and publishing industries.

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