Grief is one of the most universal human experiences — and one of the least talked about in clinical terms. Most people move through it, in their own time, with the support of family and community. But for some, grief doesn't ease. It stays as raw at eighteen months as it was in the first weeks, and daily life never quite resumes.
What Is Prolonged Grief Disorder?
This is a genuinely new addition to psychiatric classification — prolonged grief disorder was only formally included in the World Health Organization's ICD-11 in 2018 and the DSM-5-TR in 2022, reflecting a shift in how the field understands grief that doesn't resolve.[1] Research estimates that somewhere between 5–7% of bereaved people experience this more severe, persistent form of grief.
Normal Grief vs. Prolonged Grief
Normal grief, however intense, tends to soften over months — the sharpest pain gradually gives way to moments of relief, function, and even joy, alongside continued sadness and memory.
Prolonged grief stays acute and disabling well past a year, marked by intense yearning for the person who died, difficulty accepting the loss, emotional numbness, a sense that life is meaningless without them, and avoidance of anything that serves as a reminder.
Patients with prolonged grief often describe feeling stuck at the exact moment of the loss, as though time simply stopped there while the rest of the world moved on without them. What distinguishes this clinically from "just" grieving longer than others isn't the depth of the pain — it's the degree to which daily functioning remains disrupted, sometimes years later.
What Actually Helps?
A randomised controlled trial found that therapy specifically designed around grief was more effective at treating prolonged grief symptoms than therapy focused on depression alone — an important finding, since the two conditions can look similar but don't always respond to the same treatment.[1]
- Grief-focused psychotherapy: Helps process the loss directly, work through avoidance, and gradually rebuild a life that holds both the loss and renewed meaning.
- Addressing comorbid depression or PTSD: These frequently occur alongside prolonged grief and may need to be treated in parallel.
- Support groups: Connecting with others who understand grief specifically — not just mental health generally — can meaningfully ease the isolation prolonged grief often brings.
Families sometimes worry that seeking professional help for grief means something is "wrong" with how their loved one is grieving, or that therapy is trying to rush them past it. In my experience, grief-focused therapy does the opposite — it makes room to actually sit with the loss fully, which is often exactly what avoidance has been preventing.
When Should You Seek Help?
There is no fixed timeline for grief, and every culture and individual grieves differently — but if the pain has not softened at all, and daily functioning remains deeply affected well beyond a year, specialised support can help in ways that time alone has not.
"Healing isn't linear — but it is possible. Always."
— Dr. Varun Gupta
Frequently Asked Questions
Is grief itself a mental illness?
No. Ordinary grief, even when intense, is a normal human response to loss and is not a disorder. Prolonged Grief Disorder is a distinct, separately defined condition diagnosed only when intense grief persists well beyond expected cultural timeframes and significantly impairs daily functioning.
When was prolonged grief disorder officially recognised?
It was formally added as a diagnosis in the World Health Organization's ICD-11 in 2018 and in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5-TR in 2022 — meaning this is a genuinely recent development in psychiatric classification, reflecting growing evidence that some grief responses need dedicated clinical attention.
How is prolonged grief disorder treated?
Grief-specific psychotherapy has shown greater effectiveness for prolonged grief symptoms than general depression-focused therapy in clinical trials, since the two conditions, while overlapping, are not identical and respond somewhat differently to treatment.
References
- Eisma MC. Prolonged grief disorder in ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR: Challenges and controversies. PMC, National Library of Medicine. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10291380
- Szuhany KL, et al. Prolonged Grief Disorder: Course, Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment. PMC, National Library of Medicine. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8475918
Ready to take the first step?
Book a confidential consultation with Dr. Varun Gupta — MBBS, MD Psychiatry, Jammu.
300/1 Channi Himmat, Jammu
Shop No. 3, Near CHCH Katra, Counter No. 2