Do prolonged grief disorder symptoms predict post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following bereavement? A cross-lagged analysis

BACKGROUND: Bereavement can precipitate different forms of psychopathology, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. How these symptoms influence each other is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the temporal relationship of symptoms of PGD and PTSD following bereavement.

METHODS: We included 204 individuals, confronted with the loss of a loved one within the past year, who completed self-report measures of PGD and PTSD and again completed these measures one year later. We conducted a cross-lagged analysis to explore cross-lagged and autoregressive relationships.

RESULTS: A significant cross-lagged relationship was found between PGD symptoms at time point 1 (T1) and PTSD symptoms at time point 2 (T2) (β=0.270, p<0.001). Furthermore, PGD symptoms at T1 predicted PGD symptoms at T2 and PTSD symptoms at predicted PTSD symptoms at T2 (β=0.617 and β=0.458, ps<0.001, respectively). In addition, PGD and PTSD symptoms were significantly correlated on both time points.

CONCLUSIONS: We found that PGD symptoms predict PTSD symptoms after a loss. Potentially, this could help to design new strategies and interventions for bereaved individuals. Additionally, PGD symptom levels predicted PGD symptom levels one year later, independently of the PTSD levels. This finding adds to the accumulating evidence that PGD is a distinct disorder.