Emotion-Focused Therapy in the Treatment of Prolonged Grief Disorder
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Emotion-Focused Therapy for Grief, Self-help intervention based on EFT.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Spain
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Emotion-Focused Therapy in the Treatment of Prolonged Grief Disorder: Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial
Overview
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) works to reduce symptoms of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) in adults. PGD happens when the pain of losing a loved one lasts a long time and causes serious problems in daily life. * The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Does EFT lower grief symptoms in adults with PGD? 2. Does EFT also help with related problems, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and overall distress? * Who can take part: Adults (18 years or older) who lost a loved one at least 6 months ago and meet the criteria for PGD. \- What will happen in the study: Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1. EFT group: 8 to 10 weekly, face-to-face therapy sessions with a trained therapist. 2. Self-help group: 10 weekly self-help exercises based on EFT, completed on their own. * All participants will complete questionnaires on grief, mood, and well-being before starting, during the study, at the end of treatment (12 weeks), and again at 5 months and 12 months after starting. * In the EFT group, the therapeutic relationship will also be measured during sessions 3 and 8. * Why this study is important: Most current treatments for grief are based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, but not everyone benefits from them. EFT is a promising therapy that focuses on emotions and has shown positive results for other mental health problems. This trial will test if EFT can be an effective treatment for people struggling with prolonged grief.
Interventions
- Behavioral Emotion-Focused Therapy for Grief
The EFT intervention will follow the model described in EFT for grief. Its main goal is to transform core emotional pain (e.g., chronic shame) by activating change-inducing emotions (e.g., assertive anger), a process described as "changing emotion with emotion." This work takes place within a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship, characterized by the therapist's empathic, accepting, and compassionate stance. Therapists remain attuned to emotional markers (e.g., self-criticism, unfinished - Behavioral Self-help intervention based on EFT
The self-help intervention consists of 10 written exercises designed to address different aspects of grief. These include psychoeducation, emotional regulation, focusing on bodily awareness, softening self-criticism, reducing avoidance, managing anxiety and fear, clarifying confusing emotional reactions, processing trauma, imaginal dialogues with the deceased, and cultivating compassion.
Primary outcome measures
- Prolonged Grief Scale 13 - Revised [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the research at 1 year follow-up]
Secondary outcome measures (4)
- Centrality of Event Scale [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the reserch at 1 year follow-up]
- Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-10 [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the reserch at 1 year follow-up]
- Patients Health Questionnarie 9 [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the reserch at 1 year follow-up]
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the reserch at 1 year follow-up]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Adults (≥18 years).
- Undergoing a grief process (including perinatal grief).
- Meeting diagnostic criteria for Prolonged Grief Disorder (bereavement occurring six months or more prior to the loss; PG-13-R score ≥30).
- Provision of informed consent.
- Stable psychopharmacological medication for at least six weeks prior to therapy onset, with physician approval to maintain stability during the intervention.
Exclusion criteria
- Concurrent psychological treatment
- Bereavement occurring less than six months prior to the loss
- Substance abuse
- Eating disorder
- Psychosis;
- Organic brain syndrome
- Suicide risk
- Risk of harm to others.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Quadruple blind
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
Spain · 1 center
- Unidad Clínica de Psicología de la Universidad Pontificia Comillas (UNINPSI) — Madrid
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07207512 · UPComillas-EFT-PGD