Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Department of Clinical and Biological Psychology, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany.
Psychiatry Res. 2019 Feb;272:784-789. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.12.122. Epub 2018 Dec 24.
Prolonged grief disorder (PGD), characterized by severe, persistent and disabling grief, is newly included in the International Classification of Diseases 11 (ICD-11). Receiving a PGD diagnosis could lead to stigmatizing public reactions (i.e. public stigma), yet research on this topic is limited. Additionally, while there is evidence that experiencing suicide bereavement causes public stigma, no studies to date have investigated the interaction between PGD and cause of death on public stigma. To fill these knowledge gaps, this experimental study tested if a PGD diagnosis (vs. no diagnosis) and experiencing suicide bereavement (vs. homicide and natural loss) cause public stigma. Three hundred and seventeen adults from the general population were randomly assigned to read one of 6 different vignettes of a person with and without PGD who had lost a spouse through a suicide, homicide or a stroke. After reading a vignette, negative attributions, emotional reactions, and desire for social distance were assessed. Notably, only persons with PGD were attributed relatively more negative characteristics, and elicited more anger, anxiety and pro-social emotions, and a larger preferred social distance in participants. This study supports the claim that PGD causes public stigma, but nuances claims that suicide bereavement induces public stigma.
持续性丧亲障碍（PGD）的特点是严重、持续和致残的悲痛，最近被纳入国际疾病分类第 11 版（ICD-11）。获得 PGD 诊断可能会导致污名化的公众反应（即公众污名），但对此主题的研究有限。此外，虽然有证据表明经历自杀丧亲会引起公众污名，但迄今为止尚无研究调查 PGD 和死因对公众污名的相互作用。为了填补这些知识空白，这项实验研究测试了 PGD 诊断（与无诊断相比）和经历自杀丧亲（与凶杀和自然损失相比）是否会引起公众污名。317 名来自普通人群的成年人被随机分配阅读 6 种不同情境描述中的一种，情境描述的内容是一个患有或不患有 PGD 的人，其配偶因自杀、凶杀或中风而去世。阅读情境描述后，评估负面归因、情绪反应和社会距离的愿望。值得注意的是，只有患有 PGD 的人被归因于相对更多的负面特征，并且在参与者中引起更多的愤怒、焦虑和亲社会情绪，以及更大的理想社会距离。这项研究支持了 PGD 引起公众污名的说法，但也对自杀丧亲引起公众污名的说法进行了细微的调整。
