Some experts say complicated grief should be considered a separate condition.

The New York Times (9/29, D6, Schumer) reports that “an estimated 15 percent of the bereaved population, or more than a million people a year” may suffer from an “extreme form of grieving, called complicated grief or prolonged grief disorder.” Complicated grief is “one of only a handful of disorders under consideration for being added to the DSM-V, the American Psychiatric Association’s handbook for diagnosing mental disorders, due out in 2012.” However, other “experts argue that” it “should not be considered a separate condition, merely an aspect of existing disorders, like depression or post-traumatic stress.” The condition is described “as an acute form persisting more than six months, at least six months after a death,” with its “chief symptom” being “a yearning for the loved one so intense that it strips a person of other desires.”

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