Year: 2000 Source: Illness, Crisis and Loss, v.8, no.1, (January 2000), p.32-46 SIEC No: 20050265

Traumatic grief (TG) is an evolving new diagnostic category for the Psychiatric Manual that identifies people experiencing an extreme grief reaction to spousal death. The Spousal Loss Model is a 3-stage model framing life transition adjustment following spousal loss. In this article, multiple case studies illustrate how the Spousal Loss Model provides a useful framework for defining interventions that reduce extreme symptomatology experienced by people diagnosed with TG. Suicidal ideation resulting from TG is examined. (42 refs)