摘要：The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis with a high death toll, resulting in millions of bereaved people worldwide. Researchers have suggested that COVID-19 death characteristics (e.g., intensive care admission, unexpected death) and circumstances (e.g., secondary stressors, social isolation) will precipitate a worldwide increase of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD). Since acute grief is a strong predictor of future pathological grief, studying initial grief reactions may shed light on the prevalence of pathological grief among COVID-19 bereaved people in the future. To compare acute grief levels after bereavement due to COVID-19, natural causes (incl. euthanasia), and unnatural causes (accident, homicide, suicide). Method: Dutch adults bereaved through COVID-19 (n = 49), natural causes (n = 1182), and unnatural causes (n = 210), completed self-report measures of demographic and lossrelated characteristics and PGD and PCBD symptoms. Results: COVID-19 bereavement yielded higher symptom levels of PGD (d = 0.42) and PCBD (d = 0.35) than natural bereavement (but not unnatural bereavement). Effects held when limiting analyses to recent losses and those who participated during the pandemic. The expectedness of the death explained this effect. Conclusions: Higher acute grief levels occur among people bereaved due to COVID-19 compared to people bereaved due to natural loss. We predict that pandemic-related increases in pathological grief will become a worldwide public health concern.
